Somewhere a Clock is Ticking
by chocgirl
Summary: Post season five fic Now moved to a new prison, Alex & Piper are faced with a new set of harsh challenges. Split up, still recovering from the ordeals back at Litchfield, and uncertain of their future, they try to navigate the bleak realities of a new prison.
1. Chapter 1

1\. Destination unknown

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 _AN / Hi guys, it's me! Since there are no signs of S6 here's a post series five spec piece that I've been toying with for some time. This carries on a week or so from the happenings of when the group are all holding hands in the bunker. All historical events are canon compliant and obviously everything moving forward from there is purely my speculative account of the ensuing consequences. Of course, exclusively Alex / Piper POVs. Please enjoy!_

 _(flashback in italics - the only flashback to feature in this fic)_

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 _The doors slammed open. A frenzy of shouts and screams all of a sudden piercing the air. Darkly dressed men in heavy armour descended into the bowels of the bunker in one moving flurry of black. Seconds later, a low whistling cut through, then a deafening blast. Then another, and another. Piper counted at least six._

 _The overhead lights were switched off, plunging the space into gloomy darkness. No sooner, foreboding shadows of smoke began to spread far and wide, thick plumes enclosing them all. Smoke grenades Piper distantly realised. She couldn't see a thing, acrid smoke poured through, the noxious fumes of tear gas now beginning to burn her eyes. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to make sense of the increasing disorientation. The bunker was all of a sudden alive with rapid movement, chaos quickly escalating._

 _Beside her, Alex grabbed for her, their hands grappling for each other in the dark, nails almost digging into her skin._

 _"Stay down! Stay down!" Piper barely heard Alex's shouts through the series of bangs echoing around them. Another flash, this time so shatteringly loud it momentarily deafened her. Her face was burning, as though someone had dunked it in a vat full of acid. Piper fell to her knees, cowering, white hot fear adding to the mounting turmoil._

 _Disembodied screams rang all around her, distorted and distant, the ringing in her ears intensifying._

 _"Six accounted for…fuck, grab that one…another one! Alpha two, do you copy! Do you copy!…Shit, halt the smoke grenades…we got another one!...I repeat, target number is ten!..."_

 _Piper swallowed back a scream when she felt hands roughly pushing her into the ground. Her face scraped painfully into the debris covered ground. In the next second, a knee harshly dug into her back, her spine almost bent out of its shape. Her arms were twisted around her back, hands clamped together with plastic wiring._

 _Piper twisted her neck, barely able to make anything out through the billows of black smoke and moving bodies. Beside her, Alex's arms were being pulled behind her, an expression of pure and utter pain shooting across her face._

 _A new rush of despair seized Piper's chest, and for a moment she couldn't breathe and it felt as though history was repeating itself._

 _"She's got a fucking broken arm!" Piper felt her temper break apart, her screams turning into racking coughs as tear gas needled its way into the back of her throat, "Listen! Stop! Just stop! It's fucking-"_

 _The knee dug into her harder. Piper was all of a sudden pulled off the ground and hauled to her feet. She twisted around, frantically searching for Alex, trying in vain to resist the heavy hands marching her forwards, further and further away from Alex. "You're not listening!" She directed her pleads toward Alex instead, "Alex-"_

 _'Shut the fuck up!" The faceless guard yelled in anger, moving so that he purposefully obscured Piper's view._

 _Piper kept her head turned, completely unaware of the others stumbling beside her, nor was she aware of the armed man still harshly yelling into her ears. If there was a world beyond this bunker, Piper had no memory of it, didn't care for it. Everything that mattered to her was just metres away lying on the ground._

 _Piper closed her eyes and wondered how it was possible to still feel her heart hammering so hard and rapid, because something inside of her had already died._

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The cold window pane was a welcome relief to the cloying interior of the bus. The dank air circulating its narrow confines was beginning to turn Piper's uneasy ache spreading across the front of her eyes into a real headache. While the acrid fumes of old diesel oil added to the increasingly sickly feeling brewing in the pits of her stomach.

It must have been well over two hours since they've ate and another hour since they'd last drank anything. But the lack of food and drink was trivial compared to the incessant throbbing of her wrists.

"Is this really necessary?" Piper pointedly levels her gaze at the handcuffs, all reinforced steel and clanging parts that harshly chafed into her skin.

Alex shakes her head in response. She lowered her voice when a CO walked the aisle, slowly passing them as he carried out his patrol, "As far as the Department of Corrections are concerned; we're extremely dangerous felons who deserve to be caged in like animals. I'm surprised we haven't been chained and fucking shackled as well."

Piper didn't miss the bitter undertones skewing Alex's words. She couldn't help but look at Alex's own handcuffs, her right hand had been cuffed to the metal arm-rest while her left was wrapped in a thick hastily put together cast, covered by a sling that bracketed over her chest.

Alex hadn't said much ever since they'd been escorted onto the bus back at Litchfield, instead preferring to blankly stare out into space. Piper could count on her fingers how many words they'd exchanged until now.

It was two whole weeks since armed guards had stormed their way into the underground bunker they had all been hiding in, drawn back in fearful anticipation, clutching onto each other's hands for desperately sought comfort. Smoke grenades had been tossed into the space together with flash guns that had quickly led to panicked pandemonium. Hearts in their throats, they'd all been dragged onto their knees, thrown to the ground, one by one, faces flush with the jagged concrete. Before their final coup de grace where they were violently wrestled into cuffs. The whoops of adrenaline fuelled guards ricocheting off the walls as they blithely waved their guns around in a gesture of hard won authority.

Piper remembers being frogmarched out, cuffed and chained to the others. The sure presence of Alex by her side the only thing that had stopped her legs from giving way and collapsing into a dazed heap. The palpable fright hanging above each and every one of them that day was something Piper would never forget, it was as surely seared into her brain as the screams of anguish back in that room. It was a day or two later when they had been surrendered to the state, as it was called, and were officially declared to be volatile inmates.

It had been another week later when they had been forced to clamber onto a waiting bus without any prior warning, and made to leave all of their belongings behind. Apparently they didn't even have the right to be told where the bus was headed and what was being planned for them.

Litchfield had been immediately placed under a prison wide shutdown and a criminal investigation opened into the death of Humps whose body was eventually discovered during a massive clean up operation a day later. The body had sparked a nationwide media bonanza, dominating every twenty four hour new channel for days to come. The sensationalist story of a federal prison riot involving incarcerated women, sparked by the alleged maltreatment of an inmate, had soon transformed it into a media hot potato - add to that the prospect of a federal employee's murder and the story became a lot whole more insatiable.

"Do you think we're close?" Piper leans in, her growing unease had finally turned itself into a question. She hoped to somehow knock Alex out of her trance.

"I don't know."

"We must have been traveling what…three or four hours maybe? And I think we've definitely already driven out of New York."

"Sure."

Alex says it in the same toneless manner she had for every sporadic response she had uttered since the start of the journey. It's like she's ran out of all happiness and couldn't access any more of it. She continues to stare at the window, gaze heavy-set and impassive. Piper can feel her own forced enthusiasm shrinking, the attempt at conversation dwindling back into yet another tense silence.

"I think we might be due a break possibly," Piper announces after another half hour or so, "We stopped at that rest station in New Haven a while back now."

"Hmmm."

"And the fact it's getting colder definitely means we're heading further north."

"Sure."

Piper falls silent, unable to stop the frown from forming.

Alex doesn't ask. Doesn't expand. Hasn't really reacted. She's just _there._

But Piper has to hold it together. She had to harbour a strength that was enough for the both of them.

Because _she_ was not the one who had her arm broken and nearly ended by a rogue correctional officer. No, she shouldn't be complaining. Could not. _Should_ not.

She turns her gaze toward her lap, trying hard in keeping the tears from forming as an uncomfortable heat swathed through her.

The bus rides on. Silence, the third presence wedged between them. For a few seconds Piper was thrown back into the squalid room Piscatella had held them hostage, she; bound and tied and helpless. Piper could still the taste the remnants of raw fear scraping the back of her throat, the ripping belief they weren't going to make it out alive still reverberating inside her head. But it is the compounding terror she was going to witness Alex be killed that bulldozes all the way to the top, her own fruitless screams the loudest in her head. It's an almost surreal ordeal to comprehend and Piper doesn't think she was ever going to outlive the trauma of it.

Piper needs to make sure she's okay, "Alex…"

Alex shifts in her seat, her face inscrutable like always, but Piper can't help but notice the touch of reproach in her eyes, "Look Pipes, I get that you have to talk to feel better but I really don't feel like pretending everything is okay at the moment." She sighs wearily, her tone dull with resignation, "I know that's shitty of me but right now I just _can't_ , okay?"

It's not malicious or even remotely critical, if anything it was said with a note of regret, the tone, that of someone who was desperately trying to hold it together, yet the words are like a punch to Piper's gut. It's an unexpected onslaught that was closely followed by a hot guilt dousing all of her insides. She berates herself for her senseless stupidity, her complete and utter lack of tact. She obviously had to make it all about her, needing to make herself feel better rather than think beyond herself and realise Alex had come off much worse in their ordeal.

Piper quickly shot Alex a remorseful look and apologetically murmured, "Of course. I'm sorry."

But she was already back to blankly gazing at the window. Alex's body language was all wrong, head tilted away, posture tense, and good arm clasped underneath her sling. It was as though she had closed herself off mentally and now; physically too.

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The first few nights had been the hardest.

The nightmares had come with waking vengeance, their presence as sure as the earthly sun rising and setting every day. Piper would wake, almost swimming in her own cold sweat as the tried to empty the memories from her head. She had found herself spending longer each time at having to repeatedly reassure herself she was okay...but most of all, that Alex was fine.

Alex was _okay_. Pipes shies her gaze away from Alex. She was _fine,_ at least in the macro sense.

It was a gradual process, almost unnoticeable, but the vivid fear had changed from all jagged and sharp in its contours to a more rounded, manageable shape. Piper was now able to bolt it shut, only letting it occupy a small part of her mind. If she just left it there, quiet and placid she could almost pretend everything was maybe not so bad.

The bus hit a ditch in the road, the wheels dipping and jolting them all hard. Piper's teeth painfully clamped shut, her head rocking forwards. She plants her cuffed hands against the seat in front for purchase. The monotonous drone of the engine was drowned out by the collective cries of complaints from the passengers. The shrill squeal of brakes being applied dices through the air before the driver manages to correct the bus' centre of gravity.

"Shut the fuck up!" The guard stationed at the front of the bus roars, "This ain't a goddamn zoo, ladies!"

Flores' voice rings from the back, and protests, "Can we at least use our seatbelts? If you uncuff me for a second I'd be able to strap myself in."

The guard, a blonde guy with steelly blue eyes lets out a belligerent scoff and juts his head at his colleague stood toward the back, "You hear that, Sean? This safety conscious bitch wants me to actually _uncuff_ her."

"This crap is against my amendment rights!" Flores exclaims, unheeded by the guards sarcastic remark.

"You find me the amendment that states thou shalt not wear a seatbelt when aboard a jail bus and I'll uncuff you, how about that, huh?"

Sean, a burly guard with a face consuming beard and a grin that said he loved his job a little too much lets out an exaggerated laugh, "Hey princess, America's honest taxpayers are already paying for the mistakes of your sorry asses. One less of you good for nothing bitches wouldn't be such a bad thing."

"Sing it, Sean."

A cold stream of anxiety swims through Piper. She quickly looks down when the blonde guard sweeps his gaze over the contained passengers, daring anyone else to complain about safety regulations or basic human rights for that matter.

These guards were ruthless. They made their Litchfield counterparts look like bumbling untrained idiots. It was in their eyes; the hunger for violence and subjugation leeching out. It was in their clenched fists; wanting to be given the most minor of excuses to exert their male power over a group of tied up and helpless female prisoners.

The bus veers a sharp left, the sudden momentum slamming Piper into Alex who sat beside her. This time everyone had the good sense to keep their complaints internal.

"Shit, Piper!" Alex breathed through clenched teeth, her face turning dark red from the effort to stop herself from crying out in pain.

"Alex!" Guiltily, she pats Alex's arm down, "You okay? I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

Alex lets out a long exhale, her head slumped against the window, her breathing rapid and shallow. "Fuck... it's not your fault... that asshole driver thinks...thinks he's competing in the Nascar races with his shit driving."

Piper feels absolutely useless, "Are you okay, though?"

"I'm fine." Alex wheezed, her breathing finally and thankfully normalising again.

Piper's guilt though, showed no signs of abating, "You're definitely okay though?" She's already scanning the bus, ready to flag down a passing guard. "You need pain relief. You have a right to pain medication, and a-"

"Piper, stop. I'm fine. We don't need to bring attention onto ourselves."

"Alex, you're hurt. Screw attention. These assholes have a duty of care to make sure everyone in this bus is okay. You're not in a state to be thrown around like a rag doll every time the damn bus driver reminds us he's not fit to drive." She was quickly mounting memories of Alex helpless and broken...at risk of _dying._ Her fear fuelled the rapidly rising panic of concern, "Let me get one of the-"

"Piper!" Alex hissed, clasping her good hand around Piper's forearm, "I _said..._ stop."

Her voice softens, "You need to take a breather. I'm fine. You're fine. We're _both_ fine…" As an afterthought she adds, "Well physically anyway." She lifts her hand to brush Piper's cheek, and it's the first time Alex properly regards her, "Babe, I know how you're feeling. I do truly and I'm sorry about before. But you have to stop asking whether I'm alright every two minutes, y'know? I'm not going to splinter into pieces every time someone so much as _touches_ me."

Piper nods and fidgets with the hard material of Alex's cast and reluctantly relents, "I just can't help it, you know?" She turns away, embarassed when she hears the obvious catch in her voice. "I keep replaying that horrible snapping sound over and over, Alex. And I…I was just sat there…not able to do _anything_. You lying there and me not knowing whether he was going to finish the job." She pauses for a second, trying to secure her unravelling thoughts, "I don't think I could have lived with myself if that had happened."

"Hey, hey." Alex manoeuvres herself sideways in her seat, and faced Piper. The action awkwardly restricted by the tight handcuffs. She lifted her head to lock gazes with Piper. Alex's eyes were dark, their green dimmed to an almost grey, a world of carefully concealed pain swimming just below their surface. Her face was beaded with a fine sheen of sweat, and her skin a wanly pale grey under the harsh strobe lights of the bus. "Piper, look at me. You were not just sat there. Don't be ridiculous. You did everything you could, given the circumstances. A mentally unstable giant of an ogre decided when he woke up that day to break my arm, nothing more and nothing less."

Piper's stomach tightened, "You know it was more than that, Al. Don't try and trivialise it."

Alex turns away, her eyes glazing over, face almost crumbling in on itself. Something in Piper's words triggers a belated response that should have been shed days and days ago. They both pretend they hadn't seen it.

"I know it was much more than that." Alex begins, her voice eerily quiet, "But I don't want to keep reminding myself what happened that day. It sucked. It really did." She rests her hand on Piper, expression turning stern, "Like I said; you're fine. I'm fine. And we are together. And to me that's all that matters."

"Okay." Piper murmurs after a while, trying really really hard in accepting Alex's soft reassurances.

The thing was, Piper hadn't really stopped thinking about it. If anything that's _all_ she was aware of. It's like her mind had tuned itself onto one god-awful frequency she was not allowed to change. Sudden flashes of Alex grappling with Piscatella fire through before quickly fading back to black, the images dissipating but then closely followed by the loud ear-piercing crack of bones unforgivably snapped.

Alex then on the cold cemented floor and her watching on helplessly. Too many times Piper had jerked upright from barely there sleep, groggy, and emptily wondering when those memories would finally wane.

It was Alex's turn to ask, "You okay though?"

"Yeah, think so. You?"

"Think so too."

Piper sat back in her seat, her body stiff from being in the same position, and edged herself closer to Alex. She stroked her fingers over Alex's forehead, trailing away a damp lock of hair away from her eyes. Without thought Piper rested her hand on the back of Alex's neck and gently ran her fingers through the dark strands of hair, caressing her softly.

Alex meets her hand and gently pulls it down into her lap, their fingers intertwined in the now gloomy dark - both of them listening to the sounds of the bus as it drove through empty plains of arid land and headed to a destination unknown.

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Piper slept. Her head was rested on Alex's shoulder, a sure and comfortable weight anchoring down her own fears and worries. Through the haze of her reassurances, Alex had almost forgotten the pain that had kept her awake for the duration of the journey.

The searing pain that streaked down her arm now was close to unbearable. There was also the strangest tingling in her hand that would add to the existing throbbing every so often. Alex had been trying to quell down the waves of nausea that threatened to erupt every time the bus took an unexpected lurch or hit a pothole in the road.

Taking heed of the guards patrolling the aisles, she gently ran her fingers through Piper's hair, her sleeping form unperturbed, face slack and free of the tension Alex had grown accustomed to. Piper looked so peaceful, the tranquility of undisturbed sleep so rare to see. Alex felt herself slowly relax, allowing herself to turn down her guard for a few minutes, lulled into a sense of calm by the sensation of Piper's warmth, comforting beneath the pads of her fingers.

Alex had spent most of her life surrounded by people, alone. During her glory days as a drug importer, she'd sought the presence of pretty young things; naive and gullible, in a vague attempt to connect with _something._ Her mom's diner friends whom she didn't know anything about beyond their first names had also been nebulous dots in her life. So were the countless other people she'd crossed paths with.

Back then, Alex had been perfectly happy with that decision. Sated by her own solitude, it meant she never had to deal with the messy aftermath of failed relationships and broken friendships. She had been content with the emotionless affairs she embarked on when she'd been on the job where the pine for the pleasure of another woman sometimes became too great.

Then Piper had rip-roared into Alex's life, carrying with her, all the zest and zeal of life itself. Alex had found herself quickly deconstructing the thick shell she'd been building since her high schools years, easily allowing Piper access to the most guarded parts of her; her heart. It had never been a conscious decision or one that had needed too much thought.

Alex was all about logic and practicality, it's the code she used to live her life by, but surprisingly with Piper - that had all been pushed aside and instead everything from then on had all been emotion and instinct.

What scared Alex was how easily she'd lost the skill of keeping her emotions checked and internalised. When Piper was around she simply couldn't. They were too attuned to each other's tics and feelings, something unconsciously honed and evolved over the course of a decade.

She shivered when the burst image of a tied up Piper flashed across her mind's eye. What worried Alex even more was knowing that without Piper, that place she had opened up so readily all those years ago would ache, empty and hollow.

Alex rested her head back, trying to ignore the renewed tension racking in her chest. She held Piper closer to her, a little frenzied in her actions. The soothing closeness soon banishing away the dark thoughts.

Loving someone so damn much was such a dangerous thing.

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A _N / Thank you for reading, dear all._

 _This is obviously very much a scene setter a of a chapter, and albeit short._

 _As always please, please let me know your thoughts!_


	2. Chapter 2

2\. I'm not okay and it's not alright

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 _AN/ Thanks for the great feedback, you guys rock :)_

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"Come on, sunshine. I haven't got all day. There are tax dollars at work here, not that you would care." A gruff voice cuts through hazy consciousness.

The first thing Piper becomes aware of is someone violently shaking her, bear-like hands clamped around her shoulders, and for a second her sleep-filled mind cannot calibrate itself to the present and instead feels herself being dragged back into _that_ room.

Thankfully before anything plays out, Alex's low voice whispering in her ear grounds her back to real time, "Piper...Pipes, wake up. We're here."

Her eyes spring open, the face of Sean, the bearded guard inches away from hers. Yellowed teeth from years of smoking growling at her, "I said get up, inmate! Did you leave your hearing back at camp?"

Dazed, Piper glances around. The bus was stationary and mostly empty. The last of the passengers just climbing off.

"Piper, let's go." Alex's familiar voice helped dampen the feeling of disorientation she was finding difficult to shake off. It's not long before they too are escorted off, Alex's cuffed hand on the small of Piper's back the whole time.

They join the line of women stood outside, huddled together against the briskly cold winds swirling around the area. The bus was parked in a large courtyard, cemented and desolate. The fresh air felt simultaneously soothing and harsh against their exposed faces. The sudden open space felt disconcerting in a way that it would after spending the better part of an entire day cooped inside an airless metal container on wheels.

They're grouped in a row of single files. A female guard approached the group and performed a quick headcount of everyone. When done, she nods at her colleague in a gesture of satisfaction.

"Ladies! We've arrived at our much awaited destination!" Sean bellows, mouth folded into an amusing snarl, "It's not _quite_ the five starred vacation camp you've all gotten too comfortable at but for now it will have to do."

Nobody speaks.

Piper scans the crowd of women, chained and complacent. Amongst the faces she spots Nicky who was stood further back about three lines down. She hadn't uttered a single word during the entirety of the bus ride, only speaking when spoken to. Her face sullen, eyes sunken and distant - the pain of Lorna Morello's separation so visibly etched in her downtrodden expression.

Red was here also, the bruises from Piscatella's beating still marring her face, remnants of that night visible and understood by only a few. There was none of that Russian bravado; shoulders slumped and timid, instead there was just the shell of a meek inmate who was busy concentrating on the instructions being roared by the guard.

There were others also, all sharing the same battle fatigued expressions: Gloria Mendoza, Tasha, Black Cindy, amongst the few.

Lastly, Piper's eyes rested on Alex stood beside her - exhaustion dulled her intense green eyes, dark circles underneath them only half hidden by her glasses. Her posture was hunched, a heavy set to her shoulders. It was the appearance of someone who'd been defeated, robbed off all optimism and hope. Piper wondered what she too looked like.

The abrupt shout knocks Piper out her thoughts, "Follow me!"

The clanking of chains and handcuffs were the only noises piercing through the cold mist. Piper had no idea where they'd eventually ended up. She had tried to estimate the number of hours the bus had been on the road for but had quickly lost count. The small windows of the bus had been boarded up with black tarpaulin sheets, preventing any attempt for anyone to orientate themselves in space.

It was night now and cold. Freezing cold. The bitter wind dropping temperatures even further, the cold seeping through their flimsy khakis they'd hastily been issued back at Litchfield.

Teeth chattering and hands shaking violently against her handcuffs she and Alex - along with the others shuffled toward a towering nondescript building. Three large grey blocks in a U shaped formation were surrounded by imposing grey walls topped with barbed wire. Even taller watchtowers stood erected at every right angle of the perimeter. Piper caught a glimpse of two guards patrolling the small balconies on top of the nearest tower, all brandishing sniper rifles, their long and thin barrels gleaming in the night sky.

Piper felt her hairs stand on end, her heart racking up in speed as a frigid anxiety ran through her body. The realisation of their situation suddenly hit her hard. She looked to Alex for a reaction but her expression remained cryptic, her gaze fixed out front.

The cuffs painfully dug into her wrists, the cold numbing the tips of her fingers and unable to place them into her pockets for warmth. Piper was aware of her breathing turning rapid, icy condensed air sweeping in and out of her mouth in foggy plumes.

Her body was in the midst of catching up with the damning reality Litchfield was now a past concept. But what Piper's mind couldn't wrap itself around was what the future exactly held. Because right now she was like a blind woman walking in the dark, trying desperately to grab purchase of _something._

Here, the tight security was significantly more racked up...even more so than the Chicago prison she and Alex had been taken to for Kubra's trial. And that had been a medium secure prison, so what the hell was this? Her step falters involuntarily causing the person behind her to walk into her. "What the fuck are you doing? Keep walking." The voice hissed in her ear, the slight waver of their own fear impossible to miss.

"Sorry." She whispered, barely able to keep her voice down, the tension bubbling up in her throat. Piper wrenches her thoughts away and instead keeps her eyes fixed on Alex's back who was walking in front of her. It's a flimsy idea but if she kept her gaze steady on the one person she cared about more than anything else in this world, she could almost pretend none of this was happening.

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They eventually reach a set of iron wrought gates, already swung open for the group. The guards perform another headcount before beckoning them through.

Alex glances back and throws Piper a don't worry smile. Piper bites her lips and attempts to smile back but her face doesn't quite get there.

"You break the rules and you'll wish you were fucking dead." This time they were being addressed by a stony faced guard with tattoos covering the entirety of both of his arms. Piper's eyes fall to a Confederate flag amongst the aggressive looking inkings. She quickly averts her gaze when she felt his body shift to face her.

He must have spotted her recoiling frown because he disparagingly mutters, "Great another one who's trapped by her own white guilt." He drops his voice to a low rumble so that only she could hear, "If it was up to me I would separate you all by race- that way there wouldn't be half the problems we have now." He laughs humourlessly, "But of course, we have liberal skanks running this failure of a shitshow, too fucking preoccupied with pleasing every bitch and her heritage instead of properly punishing you all."

"Listen up!" He roars without stepping back, addressing the crowd once again, grinning when Piper jumps back. "You think you're the baddest of gals, don't ya? Well I'm afraid things are drastically different around here. Here, you answer to _us._ You wanna pee? You ask. You wanna eat? You damn well ask. Hell, you wanna goddamn think? You ask us! Ya'll are here because of shitty choices _you_ made. No one else to blame but yourself." He pauses for maximum effect, "You thought you could reenact Attica back at that summer camp you call Litchfield? Well here we don't allow _shit."_ He laughs, "Anyone who's stupid enough to think otherwise we'll be dealt with." He casts a deliberately disapproving stare over the group, eyes burning with over the top fury, "Welcome to fucking hell, ladies."

It's not a second later when they're ushered closer and closer to their new surroundings, the night sky forming an ominous back drop against the menacingly high barbed walls with their constantly buzzing electric gates. Somewhere in the distance the wail of a siren broke out, moments later a faint red glow lit up the left quarter of the building.

"Fuck you. I eat sissy men like you for breakfast, douche-bag." Someone mutters behind her.

Piper can't help but turn around, and was met by Frieda's incongruously cheerful smile, an obvious contrast to the frightful expressions shared by most. If anything, the smile pulling at her lips seemed almost maniacal in comparison.

"Chin up, Chapman." Frieda declares lightly, "Just imagine these good for nothing high school dropouts as pigs being stabbed by the world's bluntest knife over and over again," She winks, her voice all high-spirited and seemingly unswayed by the tense situation, "Try it. It helps make the situation a whole lot less shitty."

"What was that, inmate?" A guard rocks up toward them with surprising stealth. He casually shoves women out of line as he approached them. Piper feels Alex's body tense beside her, feet stumbling backward and hastily creating distance between herself and the guard who wedged himself in front of Frieda.

"Where's my invite to this 'lil tea party you got going, huh?" He asks, his face millimetres from Frieda, narrowed eyes clearly meant to intimidate her into submission. "Because I do too love me some real deep chat, y'know?"

Piper watches Frieda nonchalantly stand her ground, eye contact unwavering. "I'm actually more of a coffee gal but a cup of tea wouldn't hurt me either if you got some."

He's about to snarl something back at her when another guard calls him away. He throws Frieda one last look before walking back to the front of the crowd.

Piper remembers to breathe.

"I was gouging his eyes out with my bare hands." Frieda whispers into her ear, "It's a technique my late mama taught me to handle the school bullies. Of course, she hadn't meant it literally when she found out what had happened to Justine Anderson when she kept throwing my school lunch into the Tennessee river…but that's a whole other story."

They carry on walking through the open gates reaching another yard this one smaller and surrounded the front of the prison. High metal enforced fences divided the open area into smaller squares each with a heavy duty door making its entrance. They're unceremoniously pushed through a walkway marked 'Entrance 2' in big red writing.

Piper found herself shepherded into a large expansive room obviously set up for inspection.

If there was one thing she had become desensitised to - was a stranger asking her to strip and squat. Silently, along with the others she peeled off the clothes she'd been wearing for the last three days. It was almost a relief to know they would at least be issued with freshly laundered clothes.

After they all had their fingerprints and photographs taken, they were pushed through a long corridor closed off by yet another set of double doors.

She and Alex kept close. The heavily secured prison environment instilled a perceptible discomfort inside them both. She could tell Alex was stoically holding it together in the face of whatever was yet to come.

Her entire body ached to touch Alex so badly just to be sure she was really here. Just to be sure she wasn't going to lose her. There had been a mere ten minutes where Alex had been taken to a separate searching facility for further inspection of her cast-encased arm. Presumably to see whether she'd smuggled any contraband inside it. Those ten minutes had felt like infinit.

They were cuffed again and made to walk into the bowels of the prison.

"Piper, listen." Alex was staring straight ahead and it was the first time she's made real spontaneous conversation since they'd left Litchfield. Her eyes were closely fixed on the guard handling urine samples beside them.

Piper feels herself almost deflate from the long exhale of relief rushing out. But no sooner had the feeling made its way around her body she caught sight of Alex's uncharacteristically serious look, a fine tension rippling through the muscles of her jaw. "I think we're going to be split up."

Before Piper could stop herself she blurts out, "Don't say that."

Except, she'd been thinking the exact same thing ever since they were hauled off their transport. Piper had managed to sink herself into a false well of optimism, believing herself purely by way of obsessive repetition. Somehow hearing Alex say it out loud now made it seem like it was the only obvious conclusion.

Still not looking, Alex continued, "Pipes, you must have figured by now that this is a maximum security jail…they're not going to let inmates who know each other share the same block much less _room_ together. We'll most likely share recreation and meal times-"

Piper grasps onto the little purchase she had, "But they don't know we know each other."

Alex properly regards her for the first time "My drug trial. Your drug trial...even the Kubra trial. There are papers with our names _all over._ Copies of our indictments. Hell, my deposition naming you….it's all on record, Piper." She sighs, recollecting herself, 'What I'm trying to say is that you have to be careful. They see us as high risk inmates because of that fucking riot. They'll try and turn everything and anything into an infraction...whatever you do or say or even think is going to be watched. As far as they care that group in the bunker are who instigated the riot, they sure as hell don't want a repeat of something like that."

Piper studied her in turn, taken aback by the grim and flat expressionless face."Alex, I-"

She's cut off, "You have what? Two months left on your sentence? At the most three?"

An icy weight settles into Piper's chest when she begins to follow Alex's train of thought, "Alex, what are you talking about?"

"Look, I have another shit ton of sentence left…it doesn't matter if another few months are added to mine. It won't make a blind bit of difference. But you, Pipes? You're nearly there." She smiles softly, eyes warm and wistful, "You're on the home run. I don't want you to trip and fall at the very last hurdle."

Alex keeps talking - laying out the path of Piper's future brick by brick - a safe route traversing through treacherous territories. But where was Alex? Where was she factored in all this?

Not caring whether the guards heard them Piper angrily cocks her head, "What the fuck are you talking about, Alex? Is this some kind of martyr speech you've been practicing?"

"Piper," Alex began cautiously but Piper was unable to contain the hurricane of emotions buffeting her and so harshly cut her off.

"You haven't said a thing for _hours_ back in that bus but now...now you're all of a sudden telling me it doesn't matter if a _few months_ are added to your sentence? Like it's just a minor inconvenience, but I... _I_ should keep my head down?"

"Are you honestly implying that you _shouldn't_ keep your head down?"

"Alex, seriously, is that the point you're hung up on?" Piper feels herself being propelled by irrational anger when the cuffs stop her from running her hands through her hair in frustration. "And not the fact that you're casually implying you're inevitably going to get time added to your sentence, like it's not a big _fucking_ deal." Hurt was plying her words into ugly shaped accusations, fright was making it hard for them to leave her mouth. "I thought we were in this together."

"You know I didn't mean it like that," Alex answered, her voice rising with frustration, "You're twisting my words."

Piper turned so abruptly in Alex's direction, ready to hurl a few more reasons as to why this whole conversation was the most stupid thing she heard. When their bodies inadvertently touched. She remained wordless, too wrought with bubbling anger to even trust herself to speak. Instead Alex does, her voice quietly questioning, "Piper?"

Something in Alex's weary inflection caused her to look up, she had been too infuriated to clearly see before, but now the anxious concern written all over Alex's face was so obvious. The sight caught Piper's heart. It was hard to hold onto anger when all she wanted to do was to hold her and just be enveloped into a hug and forget the world for a few precious seconds.

She shuts her eyes for a moment, "You've got to stop saying stuff like that, Al."

Alex chuckles softly, but the mirth doesn't quite reach her eyes, "Is this going to be our first argument as an engaged couple? Come on, Pipes, not the most glamorous of situations to be having one right now."

It's supposed to soften the situation, maybe even make Piper laugh or at the very least persuade a smile, but all it does is make her feel intensely melancholic. She thinks back to her mother's phone call, how it finally felt as though a weight had been lifted from Piper's heart, remembering the absolute resolution of finally asking Alex to marry her. The proposal seems so distant now - almost as though it had happened someone else. The joy and happiness that had coursed through her during that moment now all felt so alien.

"I just…I just don't want you thinking like that...Like you're easily expendable and I'm not." Piper mumbles eventually, her voice small and weightless.

Alex shrugs her shoulders, eyes serious, "I just want you to be okay, that's all."

It's such a simple statement yet carried with it the weight of a decade worth of love and affection and Piper almost felt her legs buckle underneath it. Alex did touch her then - a so very brief brush of fingers over Piper's hand. The light pressure of their palms skating over each other was so unexpectedly comforting. They remain silent for a few minutes - both letting themselves to sink into the moment.

Piper had never allowed herself to even try and imagine the scenario of her walking out of prison a free woman while Alex was still an incarcerated subject of whatever fucking state they'd been dumped in.

Tears are prickling at the corner of her eyes, an awful feeling of wanting to be imminently sick hitting her insides like a storm ready to ravage everything in its path.

Alex catches her eyes, her face softening, "I love you... and you know I'd kiss you but the circumstances are kind of not ideal."

This time it does cause a small smile to form on Piper's lips, "I love you too." She can't help but say it with the conviction of someone who knows they might not see each other again.

Their eyes simultaneously fall back on a guard roughly placing a mesh bag of toiletries into Red's outstretched hands. The force of the slam caused her to drop it to the floor.

Just like that reality returns with a vengeance.

"What are you made out of, inmate. Fucking tofu?"

Red remained wordless and instead calmly picked up the bag and without further fanfare shuffled along the queue.

Piper wondered when the show would end. It was like an sick and unfunny joke being played over and over. She could almost hear the horrible canned laughter that closely followed.

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"Next!" Alex stepped forward, holding her free hand out to take the bag.

"What happened to you, inmate?" He points at her sling enclosed arm. "You got yourself into a lady fight or something?"

He sneers at her laughing at his own stupid joke.

She curtly answers, "It was actually one of your own."

He whistles in genuine surprise, "What the fuck did you do to piss 'em off?"

The exhale that left Alex was long and beleaguered. The bitterness still managed to rear its head one time too often.

Her broken arm was a very physical reminder of the shit that went down back in Litchfield. Any dumb fuck worth half their brains could have foreseen all hell was about to break loose the moment they saw Daya holding a gun point blank at that CO. A baying blood-thirsty crowd behind her, most hungry for that belated justice - but some gleeful at a chance for gratuitous violence. Alex had vowed to herself she'd stay out of it all but more importantly keep Piper out of it.

But here she was with a fucked up arm and entitled to less freedom than a chimp in a cage.

Alex kept walking.

It was so much easier to be in a perpetual state of anger than acknowledge the unconscious resentment she held toward her fellow inmates. There had been good intentions at the start, the inmates uniting against a corrupt prison system, seeking justice for Poussey's death, but then it had all quickly descended into anarchy and chaos.

If it hadn't been for their fake bravado and mob mentality she wouldn't be here.

 _Piper_ wouldn't be here.

It made Alex sick, the thought of her and Piper becoming separated, for her to constantly worry Piper hadn't been shanked by some drug fuelled lifer or shived in her sleep by a cell mate because she looked at them the wrong way.

Alex glanced at Red being handed a numbered sticker, her makeshift hat long removed at the initial inspection. The consequences of Piscatella's vicious doings still evident; the clumped hair with sporadic areas of raw scalp, a fresh reminder of the horrors that went down in that room. The hopeless image was eclipsed by the defeated and empty eyes, glazed and vacant.

Alex was hit by a self aware pang of guilt, Red hadn't been the one to knock her unconscious, nor had she broken her arm, neither was she the person who had forced the love of her life to watch powerlessly as a rogue guard threatened them all with their lives.

She's knocked out of her thoughts by a shrill voice, "Hey! You! Come with me!"

A guard built like a bodybuilder with angry beady eyes, pointed a thick index finger at her, "Yes, you!"

Alex feels herself hesitate and then tense.

"Alex…"

It's Piper, her voice all worried and anxious. She feels a hand brush the small of her back, the warmth a driving force that kept the cold tension from rising up inside her.

The guard whirled forward and flung his finger at Piper's face, "You speak only when you're spoken to, princess. Or have you gotta problem with following rules?"

"No…no, sir." Piper breathily mumbles, her eyes never leaving Alex.

Alex had to clench her jaw and clamp her mouth shut, worried she was going to verbalise the acute anger heating up her insides. She inclines her head, her eyes she hoped appeared measured and reassuring and mouths an _I'll be fine._

Wordlessly, Alex left the group, and was made to follow down a different corridor that wound around the prison complex. She's pushed through a set of windowless doors manned by two further guards stationed on each side. They eyed her as she brushed past. She couldn't help but feel intimidated as their ravenous gazes washed all over her.

The part of the prison here was less lit, the crumbling dirty walls and various broken light fixtures giving the place a feel of being long abandoned. There's a fleeting second where Alex almost imagines she was made to stumble toward solitary, the DOC having somehow discovered the remains of Aydin and even more unlikely, pinned it on Alex.

She suspected solitary in this place was a whole lot worse than Litchfield's SHU. Alex doesn't like to mull over it too much but there's a perceptible part of her that would yearn for a stint in solitary - be finally punished for her actions.

Maybe then it would rid her of the demons that had been chasing ever since she walked out of that greenhouse. Yes, she deserved retribution, sort of like a fucked up prison-sponsored absolution.

She was a murderer after all.

Alex is surprised when she's buzzed into a room obviously meant to function as a clinical area. She's met by a middle-aged moustachioed man donned in a white doctor's coat, a worn stethoscope hanging off his neck.

Without preamble he glances down at the clipboard he's holding, "Vause? Alex Vause?"

Alex nods, still standing beside the door, intensely relieved the two guards who accompanied her hadn't followed her into the room.

The doctor's eyes rove over her before briefly resting on her sling. He beckoned Alex to lie down on the patient gurney situated beside a cupboard overflowing with medical supplies. The gurney was a small thing, pushed against the wall. Far, far away from the door. Too far.

"As per state regulations inmates who have sustained injuries on federal property are obliged to undergo a medical examination to ensure their full health." He reels it off without pause and without looking at her points at the bed, his impatience obvious.

Alex feels her body turn rigid. She takes an involuntary step backwards, her back hitting the door behind her. The thought of lying prone, the most vulnerable of positions sets her heart off into a restless thrum. "I don't think I need one. It's just my arm and it's not…uh causing me any problems." It comes out as barely a whisper, a hard knot tightens itself around her chest. He must have sensed her hesitation, and simply shrugged.

"Look, I don't make the rules here. I simply follow them and I suggest you do the same. The sooner we get this done the sooner you can be on your way."

Alex grits her teeth and forced herself to move forward before climbing onto the bed, wilfully ignoring the cold sweat breaking out of her skin. Fuck, she was embarrassing herself. But as much as she tried to rationalise that of course a prison medic wasn't going to jump on her, let alone with two guards were stood outside a few metres away. Despite this Alex still felt the sweat rolling down her back, a horrible anticipatory anxiety twirling through her.

"Off with that." He barks in declarative annoyance.

Her eyes shoot up, words of protest already stacking in her throat, only realising he thankfully meant her glasses.

He walks up to her, "I'm going to have to listen with this first….I don't want any funny business."

Alex shuts her eyes, feeling the cold diaphragm of the stethoscope placed on her back. The doctor's breathing much too close to her. Next he asks her to move her arms and rotate her shoulders. Alex tries to concentrate on counting the cracks in the mildew covered walls when he starts to feel her shoulders, his touches all over her arms.

Raw claustrophobia claws through Alex's insides and she has to wrestle with the urge to fight him. She hastily pressed her fingers to her wrist, counting the beats of her heart. It only made her feel even more anxious, old terrors cruelly resurfacing. Her whole body was too tightly strung and she couldn't figure out a way to unwind.

Alex thinks of Piper. And thinks back to her proposal. It lessens the galloping of her heart a little.

"All done." He grunts, slinging his stethoscope back around his neck, his back to her, typing away on the computer. "You should be able to get the cast removed in about six weeks or so. I'll book you in for a follow up review then."

Alex doesn't say anything. Relieved, but above all perversely glad she'd be leaving the room soon.

He turns around, a flicker of sympathy briefly flashing across his face, "Any pain meds you're going to need? I can you prescribe low dose Percocet if you want." He narrow his eyes and regards her intently, "Or anxiety meds? You sure you're not going to need any of those?"

Alex shakes her head and tersely adds "No thanks. I'm fine." The last thing she wanted was to be doped up to her eyes with tranq meds and make herself vulnerable.

He throws her an emphatic look, as if to say _last chance,_ "Fine, you're free to leave."

He presses a buzzer. Alex is escorted by the same two COs. One of them grabs her good arm, harshly dragging her forward, "You'll be glad to know we're taking you to your new home. It ain't the Beverly Hills but it's a close second."

Practically frogmarched, Alex finds herself unconsciously transposing Piscatella's face onto the CO pulling her along.

Think of Piper. Think of Piper. Her whole entire body was trembling, fists clenched, Alex strained to remain calm. But all of her awareness was too honed in on the hand painfully clamped around her upper arm. He might as well have grabbed her heart and wrenched it out of her chest.

"Can you loosen up a little?" Alex hissed, feeling herself becoming paralysed with that irrational fear. White noise roared in her ears drowning out all sounds as she tried hard to keep her head above the swirling depths of rising anxiety.

The guard swivels around, "What was that, _inmate?"_

 _"_ Hey man, you're gonna leave mark like that." The smaller of the two mutters uncertainly, "Remember what Rinkstein warned us about. And you're on two strikes already."

"Fuck yeah." Reluctantly, he yanks Alex free and snarls at her, "Consider yourself lucky today."

It's all she can do not to sink into the ground as Alex evens her breathing again. It's another few minutes when another gate was slammed open, this time they reached an open space lined up with barred cells.

Cell block ten.

Alex confines it to memory.

The block was arranged in an L shape with a central recess area. Countless guards patrolled the area, some carrying rubber bullet guns others with Tasers flanked in their holsters.

The noise in the block was deafening. Women were shouting and jeering and catcalling. Some were just screaming for attention, others sat meekly on their thinly mattressed beds. At the far corner women were smashing their cuffs against the bars, the metallic clanging reverberating across the contained space.

Alex caught a glimpse of a scuffle in one of the cells, a slight woman placed in a headlock by a larger woman, surrounded by two others who were egging her on. Alex catches the guard's face who obviously saw what was happening.

He simply shrugs his shoulders in response, face all bemused and casually explained, "This is the jungle, some bitches are the predators, others the prey. Just like the fucking animal kingdom. We're here just to make sure they survive until the end of their sentence." He beckons her along, "This is you."

Without warning Alex was roughly shoved into cell forty-eight and the bars slammed shut behind not a second later. Too startled from the contact, Alex fails to see the clenched fist rapidly headed her way. It connects loudly with her jaw, knocking her glasses clean off her face where they clatter onto the cemented floor. Disorientated, she grabs the nearest wall for balance, her fractured arm painfully colliding with the side of the bunkbed. She feels herself rocket to the ground, vision oddly blurred.

"Welcome to your new home, asshole." A deep and throaty voice spoke somewhere from the lower bunk bed, "We charge extra for love."

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 _AN/ Thanks for the read. Love to hear your thoughts!_


	3. Chapter 3

3\. Got a hole in my soul growing deeper and deeper

* * *

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"Inside!" The woman barked behind Piper. The barred gate slammed shut with a deafening noise that seems to ring through her ears for a full few minutes. Piper blinked, her eyes adjusting to the dank and poorly lit space of cell sixteen. It was more like a utility room as far as she could see, little more than an eight by ten feet space with a mould stained ceiling and iron cast bars blocking what little light pushed through the grimy little window. Two bunk beds were situated on either side, firmly bolted to the ground. The atmosphere was stale and claustrophobic, the fetid smell of too many people living in a small space mingling with the thick air.

There were two other people in her cell, their silhouettes stood together in congregation.

Disappointment hits Piper like an avalanche when she doesn't recognise any of the people staring back at her. Piper had hoped and prayed she'd share the cell with at least one person from Litchfield, and had prayed even harder for Alex to be there with her. She realises now how unbelievably naive her thinking was. She should have known by now, fate was a bitch that deserved to be hung.

There it was again. That that low grade dread amplifying into real panic whenever she thought of Alex being marched away to some unknown place. Piper wondered whether they'd ever see each other again, her heart sinking yet again when she hears Alex's words echoing in her head in that same repetitive stream, _w_ _e're going to be split up...separated...look after yourself...you only have three months left..._

Piper wondered how much further her heart could sink for? By now it must have reached the very pits of her very own self-induced sea, made up of jagged memories and desperate yearnings, her heart firmly stuck in the sludge like the rest of her broken hopes.

A hard shove lands her back to cold reality.

"I _said_ cat got your tongue?"

Piper was met by two pairs of probing eyes. The woman who shoved her nonchalantly steps back and surveys her with gleaming interest, her eyes pinched, scrutinous gaze roving Piper up and down like you would a slab of meat at the butchers. She was around her age, Latina and lacking a significant number of teeth. What she lacked in teeth, however, she more than made up with the tattoo of a mean looking black revolver that covered at least half of the side of her face.

"Can you speak, sweetheart?" The woman's voice was high and nasal. It was followed by an unpleasant laugh, the sound discordant in the small dismal place.

Piper forced herself to hold in a shudder, "Sorry?"

The woman leant forwards, full face smiling, rotten teeth fully on display, "I said what they got you in here for, _mujer?"_

Piper registers the sudden deja vu, recalling her first day at Litchfield where pure panic had taken over. She had been terrified but most of all gullible - a complete prison novice. But that was a long time ago, she had been a completely different person then.

"Drugs." She answers curtly, and makes a point of giving the other women plentiful of eye contact, "Drugs and insubordination."

"Is that so?" The one on the left speaks, she's middle-aged and carried herself in a way of someone who'd been here for decades and had accepted they would be here for several decades to come. She's sporting a pink pixie cut that looks woefully out of place, garish against the drab uniform and surroundings, "Why is a pretty girl like you messing around with drugs, huh? You do know that stuff is real nasty for your health."

Piper ignores the question, wondering whether the irony was lost on this lady, "Which bed is mine?"

The women glance at each other for a moment. The Latina snatches her gaze back at Piper, obviously sizing her up, lips twisted into a wry grin.

"Ignore these two bitches…they're on their synchronised periods again." A voice breaks the strained silence, "It turns them into these feral animals. It's mayhem for a couple of days every damn month."

Piper turns around, met by an ageing black lady; her greying hair braided close to her scalp. Her eyes warm and open she points at the top left bunk, "I'm Yaz."

"Chapman."

She nods her head, "And that's yours, darl."

"Thanks."

The mattress was filthy, yellow-stained and thin, it barely passed off as something to touch let alone rest her head and sleep on but Piper knew enough than to complain and simply nodded her head.

"Yaz, why you always have to spoil all the fun." Pixie woman laments, a trace of humour curling her lips. "You know how I love putting our newbies through their paces."

"I'm not a newbie." Piper brusquely corrects, as she places her toiletries onto the bunk. "I'm from Litchfield. We were transferred because of the riot."

"Shit! Is that your place? That place has been all over the news for the last couple o' weeks." Latina woman exclaims excitedly.

"That's us." Piper emphatically adds, noting the way the women's body language changed from hostile to vaguely admirable and impressed. Piper pushed the satisfied smile back down, realising her cellmates were beginning to identify with her. Who knew violence and crime were such effective friendship builders?

"Gutierrez." Latina woman steps forward, holding her hand out, "And tha's Morgan."

Piper shakes her hand and takes the opportunity to find out where she is, "Where are we?"

"How'd you mean?" Yaz asks, her brows furrowed.

"They didn't tell us where we were headed when they bundled us into the buses. My guess is Maine or maybe even Vermont?"

"Damn" Yaz blurts, "That's some stone cold shit, right there. They really didn't tell you?"

"No."

Gutierrez interjects, "Well…welcome to sunny Boston, Massachusetts; home of the masshole driver and Boston cream pie. But we got none o' that here, instead we got a fuckton of crazy bitches and a lotta fuckin' bars...and I don't mean the alcoholic kind."

Morgan clangs the metal bars for emphatic measure and throws Piper a wink. "You're gonna like it here, sweetheart."

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It's the cold that finally allows Alex to resurface back to consciousness. She realises she must have slept, snatches of intensely vivid dreams still strong enough to make her whole body tremble. They had been interspersed with split second images of Piscatella; his imposing face, dark and washed out, teeth gleaming in the dark, a sneer swallowing up his features as he pressed himself against Alex. His bear-like body tightly wrapped around her, as arms were twisted behind her into a painful stretch.

A scream blows up in her brain, white noise erupting in her ears, followed by a horrible crunching sound that trailed away into a series of fading echoes.

A hand nudges her shoulder, sending the world around her into see-saw motion - back and forth, back and forth.

"Piper?" Alex mumbles, her voice lost in the dark. Dry, so dry. Her mouth felt arid and her tongue was like sandpaper. Another hollow scream when she feels herself falling to the ground, much too familiar and so far.

"Hey!"

Alex jerks fully awake.

Her eyes fluttered open. She was greeted by a pounding headache that seemed to crescendo with every successive blink. The images haunting her falling away in an instant.

She was slumped face first on the concrete surface of the cell, the icy cold snaking its way deep into her bones. Although it was too dark to make much sense of her surroundings, Alex was conscious she was lying beside a stainless steel toilet in the far corner of the cell - conveniently out of sight from the prying eyes of patrolling guards. They must have dragged her there after they knocked her out.

Alex lay shivering, struggling to shake off the sickly disorientation.

'Fuck, she's finally woken up." Someone loudly declares, "I thought you fucking killed her, Shay. You're damn lucky count is still half an hour away."

"Fuck would I know that was gonna happen, Dee?" A deeper voice counters defensively.

Alex twists herself into an upright position, hauling herself up with only her good arm for traction. Deep, gnawing immediately pain shoots up her skull. She waits for the wave of dizziness to clear before she's finally able to focus in on the woman stood in front of her, broad and heavy-set and wearing a dirtied wife-beater that must have originally been white in colour. She was stood beside another, this one much shorter, her tanned face weathered with deep frown lines and wily eyes.

"That's yours." The taller of the two barks, flicking her thumb in the direction of the bunk-bed behind her. "We try and keep things peaceful around here, me and Dee."

"Is that why you punched me in the face? To keep the peace?" Alex sarcastically answers, her tone derisory. She was too aware of the throbbing in her jaw. Her clothes were damp with cold sweat and covered in grime picked up off the ground and her bad arm was aching with abandon. "Because you have a fucking funny way of showing it."

Wordlessly, she heads to her bunk, snatching her glasses off the ground as she did, anger causing her grip to tighten hard around the frames. Alex begins unpacking her toiletries and other issued belongings, mindful of the frosty silence spreading in the cell.

"For someone new you sure have a lot of attitude. Who the fuck do you think you are, huh?"

Alex turns around, squaring herself up to Shay who was stood not an inch away, her face snarled in contempt. She was an ugly brute of a person, heavy set brows and ears weighed down with cheap golden earrings. Alex was not one for confrontation but there was a growing swell of an unfamiliar dark energy coursing through her now that was close to changing that fact.

"Who do I think I am?" Alex scoffs, "Alex Vause, what's yours?"

Shay raised a clenched fist and edged forward on the balls of her feet, bulging eyes darkened with anger, but she stopped before she touched Alex. Alex remained standing, hands open and loose by her sides. She stares at the woman with strange clinical detachment and vaguely wondered how her own fist would feel crunching into her face.

But then she thinks of Piper, how she herself pleaded her to promise not to do anything stupid, to keep her head down and avoid trouble. Plus she didn't want to give the woman the satisfaction of being goaded into a meaningless beat up.

Alex forced herself to take a step back, hands held out in front of her in a placating manner, and began in a calm voice, "Look, I don't want any trouble. I'm here to do my time, I'll keep to myself and you guys to yourselves."

"Listen lady" Shay approached her, completely unimpressed by Alex's proposition and practically draped herself over her. Alex resists the urge to push her away and instead meets her eyes, "You think just 'cause you're all tall and pretty you can talk to me like I'm a fucking child? Tryna pacify me like I'm goddamn stupid. I don't know what fancy ass princess palace you've come from but that cocky, know it all shit don't fly well around here." She jabs her finger in Alex's face, "You don't know me at all. You're messing with the wrong person to fuck around with that stinkin' attitude."

"Shay…"

"Shut your trap, Dee. Our new visitor don't seem to be respecting our fucking home here."

Alex smiled to herself and in spite of herself suddenly starts laughing, the muscles in her face protesting in pain. It's a ripple of laughter she was unable to stop, weighed down with bitterness and mounting resentment. What was it she projected, that made people think she was rich and well off? There had been a time during her younger years where Alex would have desperately welcomed that misconception.

She pushed her glasses into her hair, "Your home? Are you actually fucking kidding me?" Alex bowled around, "Look around you. In case you haven't noticed we're in federal _prison_. There's no such thing as a fucking _home_. If your version of _home_ is a shithole with shitty guards and stupid fucking bitches too dumb for their own good than yeah, that sounds about right."

Alex feels the anger pulsing through her body, hacking away at her muscles and skin, shredding everything in its path, desperate to once and for all burst out into the open.

She barely manages to restrain herself, her voice measured and calm, "I'm here to do my time so please leave me in peace."

"That was quite the speech, glasses." Shay's hands were balled into fists. "I would-"

She's interrupted by a loud clanging against the bars, "Breakfast time, ladies!" A CO yells through, "Most important meal of the day."

A second or so later the doors are released and quickly followed by a rush of prisoners eagerly headed to the canteen.

"I'm watching you." Shay hisses at Alex when she shrugs past her.

Alex barely hears her, not caring for cliched jail threats that have been said since time began. Because this is her first chance for nearly twenty four hours in maybe being able to see Piper and she hoped to god she was okay.

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They had been spread far and wide.

The prison - Piper has learned - was divided into fourteen separate factions. So the probability of spotting another former Litchfield inmate was as close to finding a needle in a haystack.

Piper shuffled with her tray of food to the nearest empty table, taking care not to make eye contact with anyone. The canteen was close to overflowing, bodies jostled her left and right, the loud racket too disconcerting. Quietly sitting down, she carefully scans the area out of habit. She can already feel her pulse quicken in anticipation as her gaze swept across the faces of the women around her. Too quickly Piper feels the hopefulness dissipate, its last tendrils completely snuffed out when she doesn't spot Alex amongst the crowd.

Piper picked up her plastic spoon, trying to distract herself from the growing dismay churning her insides. It had been already been over a day and she was already exhausted. She's wrenched from her thoughts by the burst of a shrill alarm, immediately followed by a buzzer going off at thirty second intervals.

All around Piper, there's an outbreak of activity, inmates bussing their trays as they all make their way back out of the hall.

"That includes you, honey." A female CO whose name tag read Wilson stands behind Piper and points over her shoulder to the exit.

"But I've just sat down-" She protests.

"Meal times are twenty minutes, honey. You better start practicing in chewing faster." Smiling she murmurs, "I read it aids in digestion."

Piper glances back down at her tray. She had only eaten maybe less than half of her meal; her yoghurt and drink still untouched. Wilson reads her mind, "Don't even think about it. No food items are to be taken out of a food containing area."

Wordlessly, Piper makes her way back to her cell catching the tail end of women leaving the hall. Turning the corridor she spots a person headed toward the far end of the prison, its only a side profile, but she catches a glimpse of dark billowing hair and maybe the frame of glasses, but before Piper is able to properly focus her eyes, they had already turned a corner and in the next second, gone.

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Alex shuffled along with the rest of the inmates heading to the canteen, the smell of badly burnt toast and cheap coffee permeating the air. Out of the corner of her eye she spots a group of women heading in the opposite direction, moving en masse through a corridor that was separated by a metal fence. Her heart thrums higher all of a sudden - was that a head of blonde hair? Someone taller than most of the other women walking amongst them? Alex pinched her eyes in order to try and see better but the group was too far from her to be able make out individual faces.

Alex's thoughts were abruptly broken when a hard shove pushes her forwards. "Keep moving, inmate!"

She keeps walking.

It was probably her imagination.

This place could do that to you.

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Recreation time was scheduled twice a week and lasted an hour and a half. Only two cell blocks were permitted onto the yard at any one time. Meal times were twenty minutes long and were almost always cut short by brawls and fistfights. Alex had learnt fights could start over almost nothing - the most menial of disagreements easily snowballing into a cell block wide riot.

Time passed slowly in prison. Prison life was a never-ending carousel of eat, sleep, piss, and sleep again. Alex could feel every second of it passing with the same slowness as trying to push through thick treacle.

But what bothered her the most was this low grade agitation, this feeling like she was caged in, making her feel all horribly claustrophobic. But it wasn't so much the physical lack of space as the swarm of thoughts teeming in her head, always there with her wherever she went. The thing is, Alex found it hard to stop her heart from leaping out of her chest every time she spots an inmate with blonde hair or hears a voice that sounded too much like Piper's.

After three weeks, Alex had hoped that the intensity of her hope would have relented by now but if anything it had worsened and it was so very exhausting.

Alex lets her head sink into the pillow of her bunk bed, a space so narrow every time she turned there was a real risk of falling off. It was a drab morning, having spent most of it in her bunk. Meal times were the only times she had a chance to properly stretch her legs before returning to her cell and finding herself in bed again.

Every Wednesday Alex's cellmates; Shay and Dee would leave for their prison appointed work duties, leaving her alone in her cell. As a new transfer they hadn't yet been assigned work role which meant Alex had the cell to herself for a couple of hours each week. A small blessing that Alex looked forward to each week.

Since the first day she only had a few run ins with Shay, nothing that went beyond a few verbal spats and heated glares. They had come to leave her alone when they realised Alex had stayed true to her words. She kept to herself most days, reading whatever crappy books were thrown through the bars, shuffling to and fro meal times…but mostly, she spent her time blankly staring into the mattress above her own - so much so she had come to memorise every frayed thread and yellowed stain.

Alex turned and faced the murky wall, riddled with graffiti and carvings by prisoners gone by, scrawly legacies crafted out of boredom. She shuts her eyes for a brief moment and lets her mind's eye take over. Like always, Alex feels the warm surge of expectation, akin to that feeling just before pressing play to a favourite movie.

And there they are, scenes playing out just like a movie: a fleeting look, a smile and a kiss, next scene: a snippet of easy conversation, a lingering hug, a laugh - Piper's…so audible and loud in her head - it felt so viscerally real.

Alex had become used to the bittersweet feeling amassing within her as she journeyed through it all. Sometimes though, the movie played differently, alternate endings where Piper and her never met again, living out their parallel prison lives, and eventually forgetting about each other's existences.

She opens her eyes again, surrounded again by murky darkness, the reel abruptly stopping.

What scared Alex the most, was that there was always a semblance of truth in the what-ifs and the could-be's. After all reality and imagination were all but a finger's breadth apart.

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It's after lights out.

Piper was wide awake.

She stared at the peeling paint on the ceiling, uncomfortably aware of the cold leaking through the flimsy mattress from the concrete plinth below.

Piper idly wondered when she was finally going to wake up from this nightmare. But every time she opened her eyes after a long and restless sleep, disappointment always hit her hard when she was greeted by the same four dilapidated walls.

She listened to the sounds of prison drifting in; loud shouts and strident cries, sometimes punctuated by faraway alarms. It was a meaningless yet comforting pattern she had grown used to.

She pulls the blanket closes to her chin, listening to the breathing sounds of her cellmates. Deep and measured sounds that indicated fitful sleep. Like most nights, Piper felt too wired to welcome sleep so quickly, instead trying to fight the awful spiralling negativity that was plaguing her insides.

It's not long before her thoughts settled on Alex...because she was the anchor that kept her from drowning in that pit of hopelessness.

Piper wondered what she was doing right now: Alex with her unfailing stoicism and reassuring smiles teasing her consciousness. Alex was probably a damn sight better at coping in this shithole, getting on with prison life like water off a duck's back.

Piper smiles into the gloom, imagining Alex's voice murmuring her usual practical advice. _Keep your head down…sleep facing away from the wall…use the showers last because the less people the better…_ but then it segues into… _I love you…I do…yes…_ Piper is startled into full awareness, the memories fading away. She's suddenly overcome by a gnawing pang of loneliness, a reminder of the stark cruelty of knowing they were housed under the same roof yet not able to see each other.

It's maybe a few hours later when Piper lay back, letting the tendrils of sleep tug her into submission.

As always the images of imposing walls and shouting guards and the relentless sense of isolation greeted her, but the most palpable of all was the pervading sense of injustice and mounting want…that over-arching _want._

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 _AN / What does everyone think of the direction this is taking? I'm interested in how S6 is going to pan out with regards to the inmates. Anyway, please please let me know of your thoughts and thanks for the read!_


	4. Chapter 4

4\. Hope (less)

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Piper found out Boston inmates were not allowed to make any outgoing calls but instead were permitted two ten minute calls every two weeks.

It's a crisp Monday morning when Piper was escorted to the communal phone area, a squalid little room divided into three even smaller cubicles, each equipped with a large black phone piece.

"You've got ten minutes, inmate." The guard barks beside her, his tone already bored.

Piper had come to learn ten minutes in this place was a damn lot. Ten minutes in prison for that matter was worth a whole lot more than ten minutes could ever be out there in the real world. It was a strange juxtaposition to the sage old tale of time moving at an unbearably slow pace. It did however, except when it came to meal times and toilet breaks and phone calls.

She quickly sat on the crooked stool and grabbed the dial. She listened to the thirty second informercial before it changed to a second long tone indicating the call had connected.

"Piper, honey! What on earth is happening? I have been demanding for answers for the past few weeks but nobody is telling me anything!"

It's strange. But Piper felt her throat seizing up at the sound of her mother's voice, something she never fathomed could happen come only a couple of months ago. She felt her lips pull into a smile, endeared by Carol's plight for justice at the same time calmed by that old familiarity.

"I'm fine, mom. Really."

"I had to practically stage a sit in to find out where on earth they'd sent you," Carol lets out one of her theatrically deep sighs, "Can you imagine _your_ mother sat on those grubby prison floors? God only knows what's been spilt on there. I mean the lack of hygiene in these places is staggering."

Piper doesn't mind, listening to her mother's rambling stream of consciousness - it was actually comforting.

She nods into the mouth piece, "Hmmmm."

"Dear god, Piper. I'm sorry…I'm pleased you're doing okay at least. Your father and I have been watching the news every day and let me tell you…I'm sick of the sight of Tim Bert's smug voice now. Something I never thought I'd hear myself saying."

Piper can't help but laugh - Bert was one of the news reporters her mom had a not so secret crush on not to mention the fact he was half Carol's age.

It's after a few moments of obvious hesitation when Carol tentatively asked, "How are you, honey?"

Just like that Piper's smile disappears and she's yet again reminded of her cold reality.

"I'm okay." Piper could hear how unconvincing she sounded, her tone all wrong, her cadence all clunky. She repeats it again, only to try and trick herself, "I'm okay, really."

"Oh, Piper, I've been worried sick. It's good to finally hear your voice." There's a perceptible pause, "And uh…how's…how's Alex?"

Piper felt her eyes sting, a cold hurt erupting in her chest. It's the first time in however many weeks she heard Alex's name said out loud. The abrupt awareness of that suddenly hits her sideways.

There's that pain again gnawing at her. Piper wishes she could point at the exact places it hurt. The thing is there was always a cause and effect to pain. You get hit there and it hurts. But what about that dull, indescribable ache? A pain that seemed to live just beneath her skin and seeped through her pores when at its worst.

"She's uh…" Her voice wavered but she clamped the shakiness down hard, " I don't really know. Alex and I were separated when they moved us to the new prison…I haven't' seen her since."

"Oh, Piper." Her mother crooned uncharacteristically. "I'm sure she'll be fine. You both got yourself through a prison riot relatively unscathed for god's sake. If anything Alex is probably worrying about you just as much you are over her."

To her absolute horror, Piper felt her eyes well up with tears, dormant emotion once again so easily unspooling. She turned away from the curious stare of the inmate beside her, hurriedly wiping the wetness away. Prison didn't allow space for feelings and emotion.

Instead Piper dug her fingers into the chipped paintwork of the metallic table. She wasn't accustomed to Carol validating her feelings. Ever. They never had that kind of mother-daughter relationship where Piper could openly discuss personal matters let alone be offered assurances over the welfare of her girlfriend. But above all that, Piper was _not_ used to Alex _ever_ being acknowledged in favourable terms. It was immensely jarring.

Piper digs harder, her nails painfully scraping into the sharp crevices.

"Honey, you there?"

Piper didn't know what to say.

It's paradoxical but somehow her mother's concern seemed to set off a fireball of anger inside her. All these years of Alex being treated like crap by her parents…all these years of Piper having to listen to her parents casually criticise and dismiss the entire concept of Piper being in love with a woman and only amount it to _temporary_ rebellion

And it was only now… _now_ she was finally able to hear Carol say Alex's name without it sounding like it made her feel physically sick. It had come to the point where their lives had been in peril for her mother to finally let go of her long-standing disgust.

"Yeah.." Piper gathered her breath, her voice wooden and automatic, "You're probably right. I'm sure Alex is fine."

There's another long silence before a click reminds them both the call was about to be ended, "Mom, is Cal with you?"

Carol's sigh of relief was audible despite trying to cover it up with an awkwardly placed cough. Although Piper couldn't deny her mother had made leaps in accepting Alex and validate her Piper's love for her - they still had years and years of time to make up for.

"Yes, Cal's here." There's a few seconds of fumbling sounds before Cal's oh so familiar voice came through, "Hey sis, waddup."

"Cal!" Piper could not censor her happiness as easy as she could with her mother, "Waddup?" She scoffs good-naturedly "What have you gone all ghetto now?"

"Uh that seems like a slightly racist thing to say."

Piper laughs, privately thinking Cal's eyes popping open every few seconds if he was to spend even ten minutes at rec or meal times in this shithole.

She listens to her brother's countless updates, how he and Neri have been planning on living off-grid come Christmas time, how the Red Sox spectacularly lost their most important game of the season, how Aunt Henrietta unexpectedly visited a couple of weeks back and announced she was going to live away in Nepal.

It was bittersweet - listening to the tales freedom provided. It made Piper aware of how time passed so effortlessly - how people quickly adapted to a change in circumstance, her presence barely missed anymore. There would have been a time where instances like this would lead to tears flowing, but Piper had exhausted all that a long time ago and instead all she felt now was blank indifference.

She wasn't part of that life anymore. Come to think of it, she probably had never been part of it. She considered her life the one she had shared with Alex, their globe-trotting adventures to faraway lands, lazy mornings spent int bed, laughs shared over sangrias and fancy dinners. That was her life.

She caught her reflection in the grimy glass pane, her face dull and complacent. This new state of emotion she found herself in, scared her sometimes, this inability to feel anything anymore.

Cal's voice reminds Piper she's still on the phone, "Hey, Pipe. I heard what mom was saying and for what it's worth I'm pretty sure Alex will be okay and I hope you guys get to see each other soon."

It's so innocuous, but there's something so honest and hopeful about Cal's offhand reassurance, it almost immediately shatters her earlier presumption of turning into this emotionless shell. Of course, when it came to Alex, Piper's heart was as ever, so very alive.

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Alex wakes up to the sound of metal doors clanging open and shut. Their loud echoes feel as though they're being drilled straight through her head. She groaned and rolled onto her side, remembering too late it was her bad side. Alex was now fully conscious of the pain lancing through her arm, the dull remnants of fitful sleep the cherry on top of an otherwise harsh wake up call.

It had been three weeks since arrival and today was the first time Alex was allowed to go to the scheduled recreation time. An activity previously restricted because of some dumb rule where new inmates should prove their cooperation with regulations before being trusted to make use of open space and presumably not kill someone on sight.

Boston was headed into the heart of winter, the frost coating the windows lasting longer and longer each morning. Before the wave of complaints heralded over the lack of warmth and proper clothes, the COs had been instructed in handing out heavy windbreakers one morning, presumably in lieu of providing actual central heating.

Alex had taken her jacket and a set of thermals, laughing humourlessly when she watched a couple of other women searching the pockets of their newly acquired clothing in the hope of finding any stray goodies. She was always mildly amused at the infallible optimism inmates possessed. Sometimes she wishes she could emulate even a little of that.

She gets into the jacket before sombrely stepping onto the courtyard. It was a barren square area closed off by high bricked walls with nothing more than a basketball hoop that looked like it had seen better days attached to one of the walls and a few sporadic metal benches bolted to the ground. Faded white lines painted on the ground marked the boundaries of a once used sports pitch, rusted goal posts defeated by the moss overgrowth covering them.

Alex quickly shrugged on the oversized jacket just as an icy wind knifed straight through her. Boston winter was unforgiving, a thin layer of frost stubbornly covered most of the grey concrete ground, and despite the thick layers Alex still felt as though she had stepped into a walk-in freezer.

She scans the yard, trying and hoping her eyes would fall onto Piper's face. She hadn't slept most of last night, not that she had the few days or weeks for that matter, but when she was told recreation time was today she had been tight with wound anticipation.

The _maybe maybe maybe_ tangling themselves together into one long delicate string of _hope._ But a second more rational voice told Alex not to let that elusive hope mount and unduly raise her expectations - and just like that the string would snap.

There were maybe a total of thirty women ambling around the space, at least three cell block's worth. Heavy disappointment sets in when Alex recognises most if not all of the women from their shared mealtimes. She comes to the slow conclusion, rec time was shared by the same blocks as meals. She tore her eyes away, berating herself yet again for being so easily swayed into desperate expectation.

Alex digs her good hand further into her pocket, burying her chin beneath the jacket collar, the wind buffeting through her hair. She suddenly felt so cold and jaded, her morose mood perfectly matching the greyness of the place. She aimlessly wanders the yard, keeping to the perimeter and taking care not to accidentally stray into anyone's path.

The sky was grey and overcast, burgeoning clouds likely carrying snow hovering ominously above them. The towering walls prevented any glimpse into the surrounding landscape, instead the only real scenery were the pervasive turrets occupied by eagle eyed COs scanning through long range binoculars.

After a listless half hour Alex distantly wondered whether she could leave Piper a note and lodge it behind a loose brick in the wall work but disregards the idea almost immediately. There was no way of communicating the location of the note, plus the obvious fact she didn't have anything to write with. Nor could she exactly start scribbling on the wall - not with the constant surveillance up above.

"Vause?" Just then someone taps her on the shoulder.

Alex jerks back, fraught tension shooting up from beneath her. Alarmed, she treads back, hand flying out of her pocket, her other hand uselessly trapped underneath its cast.

"Woah! You okay, _gafas?_ I didn't mean to scare the shit outta you."

Alex straightened herself with effort, turning to meet Gloria's semi-concerned face, embarrassment ballooning at her own startled response.

"Gloria." Alex remarked dryly.

There's an awkward silence as they regard each other. Alex and Gloria's paths had never really crossed back at Litchfield and beyond the simple details of each other's names and relationships they didn't really know much of one another. But there's a sense of comforting solace in seeing a familiar face that makes the historical lack of interaction almost irrelevant.

Alex was about to say something when Gloria suddenly moved forward and warmly wrapped her arms around her, embracing her with a tight hug. Surprised, Alex's automatic response is to move back but she feels her body immediately relax. It's the first time since their arrival that she's had such close contact with anyone other than the rough-handling of guards. And it felt so comfortingly good.

They let go, "How's the arm?"

"Mending."

"That evil _cabron_ deserves a place in hell for what he's done to you and Red." Gloria seethes, her hands wildly gesticulating. Her anger slowly devolves into something almost maternal when she turns to Alex, "How are you holding up though?"

"Fine." Alex answers dismissively, all of a sudden feeling too self-conscious at the directness of the question. These days any question about her mental status felt intrusive, no matter how innocuous.

"Really?" Gloria purposely steps back and gives her a purposeful once over. "Cause you sure as hell don't look like it."

Alex turns to face her, her lips pressed into a thin line, hand shoved deep into her pockets, "You wanna know the god's honest truth? Life's shitty, Mendoza. I don't sleep. I wake up every morning wishing I hadn't woken up. There's nothing holding me up apart from my dwindling mental stability-"

Alex fell silent, surprised and embarassed in equal measure. She hadn't meant to say all of that.

She also hadn't meant to say it in a voice that was on the verge of shattering into a heap of sobs.

There was a perceptible pause, until Gloria spoke, "It's normal to feel this way. Hell, I'd be surprised if you weren't."

Alex can't help but inject sarcasm into her words, hoping it masked the sure tremble of her voice, horrified when she hears the low choked quality of her words echoing into the silence. "I'm sure you don't want to listen to my angsty bullshit…I'll save that one for the prison appointed counsellor."

It was too cold to remain standstill, the wind had picked up again so Alex starts walking along the perimeter, keeping to the same route she had walked five or six times this last half hour. Gloria falls into step beside her, and to her credit changes the subject. Her voice is all soft and tentative, "Have you seen her?"

Alex's step falters, "No."

Gloria hasn't mentioned a name but Alex can already feel Piper's name being tossed around in her skull, and for a second it's all her mind tries to latch onto. All other thoughts had been pushed to one side, the idea of Piper the only real tangible thought left floating. Alex wondered whether that was why she'd been so aimless, so without direction in her doings.

"That's gotta be hard," Gloria's voice drags her back, "I'm sure she's fine. She may not look it - but Chapman is definitely one of the stronger ones."

Alex shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah."

Privately, she doesn't think it's Piper's strength they had to worry about…it's her own.

"Do you think her and the others have been transferred out? Or maybe even been taken back to Litchfield?" Gloria asks, her optimism too easy for Alex to fall into.

Alex finds herself caught with the sudden urge to scream out Piper's name in the vague chance she'd hear it, however irrational. Or maybe she won't hear because she wasn't even here anymore. Surely, by now Alex would have had at least a glimpse or heard _something_ through the prison grapevine. It's a hard fact she doesn't like to dwell on for too long.

She feels herself spinning out again, the agitation not long joining. For all Alex knew Piper may have been transferred elsewhere - who was to say that this place was even a permanent fixture, or worse she'd been thrown into solitary or psych-

Alex fights the turmoil and attempts to assuage Gloria's question with dark humour but it comes off as too forced, "I don't know. I guess no news is good news."

"You really believe that, huh?"

Alex sighs, and laughs half-heartedly, "I don't what to believe anymore, Mendoza."

They carry on walking in silence. The frigid air battered Alex's face, the lenses of her glasses fogging up when a sudden gust of wind swept across the courtyard.

"I wanted to kill myself when I found out my son Benny was in hospital…in a _coma._ " Gloria starts speaking, her eyes dimmed by faraway pain. Alex stays quiet. "He was beaten up by a group of _matones_ boys, hungry for blood. And I tell you, the worst thing was I didn't know whether he was gonna live or _die."_ Her voice catches with emotion, "Nobody was telling me shit. They wouldn't tell _me,_ his own goddamn mama. We're just a bunch of heartless criminals to them…not worth their time. My poor _Benito_ connected to tubes, a machine breathing for him and I could not do anything." She stops talking for a moment, wiping her eyes with her sleeves, "So I _know_ the fucked up feeling that eats up all your insides like a bad disease. You can't sleep or eat or even piss in peace when you don't know whether the person you love and care about is safe and well."

That familiar catch in her heart. It was so, so close to how Alex had been feeling ever since they'd been marooned to this place. The arrow all but inches away from the bullseye. "I'm sorry about your son, Gloria."

"Yeah me too."

Alex clears her throat and eventually stumbles out, "How do you cope with the not knowing part?"

"Hope is a strong force. I hope and hope and hope. That's all you can do in this place. It's a bandaid to a fucked up wound but it's all you've got."

Alex takes that in and lets her gaze drift away. Her eyes resting on the few plants, decaying and withered, struggling to penetrate through the frosted brickwork of the walls.

The thing is, Alex needed more than hope - she wanted cold hard evidence - maybe then could she properly relax, maybe then would the sleepless nights disappear. But for now, she could only hope.

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The warmth on her face is what eventually pulls Piper out of her sleep. It's the first night in over a month where she's managed to sleep uninterrupted. But it doesn't make her happy. Somehow it makes Piper feel _guilty_ \- like she's finally got over Alex's absence, as though an uneventful night somehow implied she wasn't worrying enough about Alex.

Piper hates these meandering thoughts and the longer time went by the more intrusive they became.

She reluctantly climbs off her her, already feeling mentally tired before the day had even properly begun. But a rare sliver of sunlight manages to shine through the tiny window of their cell and it lifts her mood a little.

"Whaddya think you're gonna get?" Gutierrez asks when she sees Piper changing into her prison overalls.

"Sorry?" She takes an involuntary step backwards when Gutierrez steps closer. Piper still hadn't grown used to the revolver tattoo marring the woman's face. It was disconcerting to say the least.

"She's definitely a laundry girl." Yaz chips in.

"Nope." Morgan interjects, "I'm betting a week's commissary she's a library. Definitely a book kinda gal."

"You actually gonna bet a week's commissary on this _white_ girl?" Gutierrez scoffs, "Fuck that, I'm out."

Piper's face twists into confusion, "What are you talking about?"

Morgan grabs a toothpick and start picking at her teeth before answering, "Did you think you're gonna be sat on your sorry ass all day for the rest o' your sentence? Taxpayers ain't want that." She smiles, obviously basking in knowing this snippet of information, "You're gonna be working and paying for you sins…just like the rest of us."

Piper leaps up, "When? When am I going to find out?"

Just then the answer was thrown through the bars of the cell by a passing CO.

Piper's mind suddenly opens up to fresh new possibilities. A job assignment meant potentially meeting a new set of inmates. Inmates from different cellblocks. Her mind quickly jumps forward to the next inevitable thought - a job assignment meant maybe maybe maybe finally being able to see Alex.

"Damn, she looks like she's won the goddamn lottery." Yaz snorts when she catches sight of Piper's too wide of a grin. "When we say _job -_ it's more like slave labour so you can tone down that clown smile, girl."

"Unless she gets library." Morgan adds, hopeful she's right in her predictions, "Ain't a lotta work filing Stephen King and Lord of the Flies."

Piper ignores them and grabs the envelope off the ground and rips it open. She skips the first few paragraphs, before her eyes fix on the last section.

 _Library duties_

Morgan snatches the paper out of her hands and yelps, "Told ya! I'm a psychic. Cough up bitches."

Piper catches Morgan's elated expression and feels a smile of her own blossom - and for once allows her guarded optimism to tentatively flourish.

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Alex scrunches the piece of paper in her fist before slumping back down her bed – the mattress springs – painfully digging into her back.

She would have preferred laundry duties but this is okay too.

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 _AN / Finally a glimpse of hope? Watch this space :)_


	5. Chapter 5

5\. How long must I wait for you?

* * *

 _AN / Sorry for the delay. Thanks for the perseverance, guys._

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"It will feel numb and strange for the first few days but that'll soon subside."

The cold clinic air felt good against Alex's skin - her arm - now fully free from it's restrictive cast and about a pound lighter. She tests out the dexterity of her hand by clenching her fist a few times but each time only managed it into an awkward halfway curl.

The doctor eyes her from above his glasses and wearily explains, "The nerve running from your elbow into your hand was unfortunately affected by the fracture so it will take time for you to notice a full return of movement." He studies the paperwork attached to his clipboard, "From the sounds of it, you're lucky, it could have been much worse."

Alex felt her good hand inadvertently tighten around the metal bar of the bed she was sat on.

Oh, it could have been _worse?_

So the several months of tearing brutal pain that would rock through her body every time she so much as turned her shoulder a certain way was not even the worst of it?

Alex felt her breath coming up short - her head heavy and awfully laden all of a sudden. She tried to reconcile with the images roiling around her like a bad dream that wouldn't stop.

It wasn't so much the pain and general incapacitated thing that had bothered Alex the most but the overall nightmare of a situation the arm had constantly reminded her of. Her arm had become sort of like a beacon in an otherwise dark murky sea of uncertainty and _longing._

Alex put a hand to her neck, trying to coax the suffocating negativity out through her skin.

He continues heedlessly, "You'll also most likely suffer cramps which will have been caused by the long period of muscle inactivity." He glances at Alex grimacing in pain, "You sure you don't want any pain medications?"

Alex was about to shake her head, already beginning to climb off the bed. But something momentarily stops her and she turns around - hesitating.

She wouldn't mind escaping from reality for a while, and maybe, would finally be able to have a good night's sleep.

He takes her silence for an answer, and starts scribbling onto a prescription pad, "It's semi-strong but you can take it up to three times a day. I'll let the head guard know so they'll be able to give it to you at the times specified." He turns around, a glint of sympathy briefly flashing across his face, "It'll help."

Alex doesn't say anything but just briefly nods her head in a gesture of thanks.

The cast had been removed and it should have felt like a momentous occasion - something she should be celebrating somehow. Instead, Alex hops off the bed, crosses the room and walks out of the door into the arms of the waiting guards, ready to be escorted back to her cell.

Even the smallest slivers of happiness seemed redundant in this place. Or maybe it's her. Maybe instead of the pain meds Alex should have asked for anti-depressives. Alex shrugs off the strange sense of discomfort.

After all she has been there before.

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The buzz signalling lunch time sounded through the block. Piper jumped out of her bed, this time eager to fully utilise her measly fifteen minutes of meal times. It was a grey Monday morning, the thunder of rain hitting the roof a constant hum Piper found oddly comforting.

She nodded a quick hello to her cellmates as she got dressed. She folded her clothes away, made her bed and grabbed a sweater to wear over the overalls. It was practiced routine and she was fast growing used to the repetition of new prison life.

No sooner had the doors slid open and she was already halfway down the corridor.

Piper carried her tray filled with food and scanned the hall for a suitable spot - normally she tried to avoid the peripheries and any table that had more than three people seated. Past experience told her a crowd usually invited the prospect of a brawl plus the fact loosely formed gangs tended to congregate together.

She's about to snag a window seat when she spots a familiar head of unruly hair bent over their own tray of food. It takes a second or two for her hunger filled brain to recognise Nicky.

"Nicky!" Piper exclaims, immediately rushing toward the table - glad for the free space opposite her.

Nicky barely looks up and instead languidly places her spoon down before eventually lifting her head and fixing on a smile that looked like it required some effort.

"Wow, you look truly shitty, Chapman." She shifts forward for a emphatically closer look, "And that's coming from someone who isn't going to be receiving a Victoria's Secret runway invitation anytime soon."

Piper rolls her eyes, and grins, her happiness too great at finally seeing a familiar face, "You might. You never know. I hear prison chic is making a comeback."

"What? Is this the autumn/winter 2018 collection I haven't yet heard of?"

"Uh huh. I reckon you're in with a decent chance."

"Yeah suuuure. A tall blonde hottie like you? Definitely. But a five foot oner like me? No fucking chance." Nicky smirks, and makes a point of surveying the hall, "Clearly your unfailing Chapman optimism is still unaffected despite our lovely new surroundings."

Piper laughs. It startles her for a moment, the sound so foreign. It occurs to Piper she hasn't properly laughed since arriving at Boston.

She looks at Nichols for the first time and wonders why this was only the first time she's seeing Nicky. Piper should know…having spent a large share of her time intently scanning halls and corridors and rec spaces for signs of Alex. So she knows mealtimes are only shared by her block and two others and not once has she ever seen Nicky during those times.

Nicky reads her mind, "I've changed cell blocks." She snorts, "I was going to begin with 'long story short' but then realised we're in prison and we actually have all the time in the world. Now how about that?"

"Jeez, Nicky, thanks for that sobering reminder."

"Not a fan of my prison humour?"

"Definitely not."

"Anyway, my story where was I?" She takes a gulp of water, "So…turns out my esteemed cell buddies used to work for the biggest drug network of the East Coast - shipping, dealing, and importing - you name it…and because they loved their jobs _so_ much they thought why not continue trading in jail." She shakes her head, "Because that's what you do when drugs are the reason you're even in here. Call it the drug circle of life."

"Seriously?" Piper exclaims disbelievingly, concerned about the combination of drug dealing bunkies and Nicky with her colourful drugs past.

Nicky flicks her hair back, "You better believe it. So seasoned ex-junkie here, was _pretty_ close to becoming a fully certified junkie again. So I did what any other self-respecting jail ex-druggie would do - so asked to be moved the fuck out of there."

"Yes! Good." Piper answers, relieved.

"Hang on, not so fast, Chapman." Nicky laughs at Piper's overly relieved face, "They _refused._ But I told them have they _ever_ met a an ex-junkie or even a fully enrolled junkie that has been able to resist being proffered the finest cut of heroin in the whole of the good ol' US of A?"

"Fuck."

"Major fuck, yes. But I guess deaths by overdose are high on the prison agenda of _shit that should not happen_." She leans back nonchalantly, "So here I am."

"You definitely did the right thing there, Nicky." Piper spoons a mouthful of rice, "How are your new bunkies?"

"First degree homicide and armed robbery but they're surprisingly civil. I'm tempted to call us the three musketeers."

Piper thinks out loud, "How it it that homicide and a shitty riot are dealt with in the same way?"

Nicky laughs humourlessly, "Careful, you're asking questions that contain too much common sense for our trusty government."

"It's fucked up though."

"Lets face it, Chapman. We're in here so a guy called Larry and his two point two kids can feel safe and keep living their so called American dream, safe in the knowledge the big baddies are locked up tight."

"Why Larry?"

"Larry types? Seemed like the first go to generic white guy name I could think of. Plus it's a stupidly stupid name that should only be given to horses or dogs."

Piper shakes her head, "My fiance was called Larry. Remember him?"

"Was he either a dog or a horse?"

"C'mon, Nichols." Piper can't help but smile. She's missed Nicky's dry sense of humour - a mirage amongst the misery.

They segue into silence. It's a little selfish but ever since she spotted Nicky there was only question on her mind and it was beginning to almost burn her tongue. She's trying to decide whether she should bring it up now, but Nicky speaks for her instead, "Jesus Christ, Piper. Ask what I know you wanna ask. You look like you're about to explode out of your skin."

"No, I-" She cuts herself off, and feels the warmth of a blush travelling to her cheeks. She breaks eye contact, and wonders if she was coming across as insensitive. See the thing was, Piper had been acutely aware of Nicky feigned bravado - her trying to appear like her usual unruffled self - but it was all too painfully obvious, the widening cracks beneath that brash exterior.

Piper thinks back to the bus ride to Boston; how Nicky had mostly been catatonic, the separation of her and Morello hitting her hard. Piper almost squirms in her seat, the possibility too incomprehensible for her. She couldn't imagine having to try and live with the thought of not knowing where Alex had ended up had they been bundled into separate buses. It was difficult enough not knowing where in the building she was let alone where in the country.

Nicky must have obviously seen the predicament Piper was in, "Fricking relax, Chapman. If I was in your position I would be asking the exact same questions…so stop pulling that _I'm shitty_ face."

"Sorry."

Nicky smirks, "I'm kinda concerned at this new jacket you're wearing."

Piper cocks her head, "How'd you mean?"

"I mean you should see yourself - thinking of others' feelings like that. " Nicky grin good-naturedly, "Man…you've come a long way from the days of it's all about me and fuck the rest of humanity. I'm so damn proud."

Piper can't help but laugh, "Thanks…I think." She carries on eating her meal. "I guess we need some levity in this place."

They welcomed a brief interlude in the conversation, the racket of the inmates surrounding them both duly reminding them of exactly where they were.

"Glad you're okay, Chapman." Nicky spoke, her voice suddenly serious and expression earnest, "It's nice to see an old friend in the midst of this government sponsored shithole."

"Me too." Piper can't help but ask, "You and Lorna, how are-"

Nicky cuts her off, "Please don't say her name. I have just spent an eternity trying to erase her name outta my brain. Don't make me start all over again."

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to." Piper cuts herself off again.

Nicky ponders over her food for a while before she glances up, her face solemn, "And Alex...she's fine."

The world almost turned upside down. Piper felt herself getting engulfed with a singular stream of dizzying _relief._ It was like a hole had opened up in her chest, finally releasing gallons of worry and fear that had started to congeal inside Piper. She finally looks up…but there's an instinctual plug stopping her from deluging Nicky with the thousands of questions already queuing up at the back of her throat.

"Before you get hopes up…I haven't actually _spoken_ to her. She's in block ten and I'm in six so there's no way of direct communication." She takes a swig from of her water, "But Vause's cell is above mine so we see each other at mealtimes when their block is leaving for the canteen and ours is returning."

Piper leant forward, her hands trembling all of a sudden, "What did she look like?"

"A little rough around the edges I must say. _But_ luckily for you she's still the hot as hell ex drug pushing felon we both know." Nicky lets out a laugh, "Have I ever told you guys are a match made in prison heaven."

Piper has the urge to correct her but her thoughts are racing too fast to even come out with a comprehensible retort, "Nicky…"

She holds her hands out, "Ok, but in all seriousness she looked _fine_. At least from the outside anyway." She leans back in her chair, "I wouldn't spend so much time worrying about her - after all she's got all of that Vause charm to protect her."

That's the thing though, Piper cannot _stop_ worrying.

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* * *

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Maybe library duty wasn't so bad.

Alex can feel herself smile when she runs a lazy hand over the books lining the shelves. Her head tilted sideways, her eyes skimming over the titles; Jane Eyre and Gone with the Wind and the Kite Runner were just a few old familiars she spotted.

Alex walks the shelves, haphazardly rearranging books, her hands purposefully lingering over their spines. She missed that feeling of normality – being able to immerse herself into a familiar world that has always brought her a sense of sanctuary. Books had beenh Alex's refuge throughout most of her life; a gateway of words that allowed her to escape her own world for a few hundred pages.

But at the moment it was the quiet she was appreciating the most, the incessant buzzing of doors and constant alarms had become so ingrained into her hearing, the relative silence of the library was almost disconcerting.

She kept walking.

Alex's gaze lands on Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. She instantly smiles. Piper had read this book close to over ten times. She still avidly remembers Piper's worn copy she had brought with her to their Tahiti vacation over a decade ago, her insisting much to Alex's amusement that the eleventh read was even better than the previous ten.

Her head full of nostalgia all of a sudden, Alex carries on filing, distantly wondering what Piper was doing right this moment.

The thought ends prematurely when a hand abruptly yanks her backwards. The action takes Alex by surprise and she stumbles back, colliding into the shelves and nearly loses her footing. Last she checked there had been only one other inmate in the library and she'd been filing the non-fiction section.

"What the-"

"Alex!"

Before Alex can construct a narrative over what the hell was happening right now, she numbly watches Piper throw her arms around her and is embraced into an elated hug.

"Piper?" Alex murmurs the question into Piper's hair - completely and utterly dazed.

She was still unsure whether this was just a really intense figment of her imagination.

These days the line between reality and memory were so fine, really it was difficult to establish what was real or not.

But the lips on Alex were very real, and so were the hands lightly bracketing her face, warm and giddy fingers trawling over her cheeks. But it was that smile that fully convinced Alex she wasn't dreaming.

That euphoric smile lighting the entirety of Piper's face was something Alex could never just _imagine_ – so she finally allows herself to sink into the joy reigniting her whole body. Her own hands slide over Piper. Alex wants to touch everything and everywhere of her all at once.

They hug like two people who were once lost at sea, they touch like it was their first time - hands frantic and gentle all at once. They hold each other like no time had ever passed. And kiss like there was no tomorrow.

All of Alex's senses were honed in on all of Piper, everything else around them easily turning into a blur. 'Piper Elizabeth Chapman." Alex laughs breathily, her voice suspended between disbelief and joy. "Is this really you?"

"Alex Pearl Vause, are you real also?" Piper grins, her smile giddy and light, catapulting Alex's heart to new dizzying heights. She was wholly convinced she would never tire of Piper's hand running gently over her face.

Alex fixes her eyes on her - smiling when Piper turns away suddenly all shy and quiet. It's a moment later when their foreheads touch and Piper softly murmurs' "God Al, I've missed you so damn much."

Alex's feels her breath catch, her head light and heavy all at once. She never thought just the sight of Piper would so easily soothe the sharp edges of pain.

Alex then answers quietly and intimately, "Me too, Pipes."

Piper absently traces the books behind Alex, "Do you have that feeling like you're waiting for someone to wake you up from a dream? Because I'm still not _fully_ convinced."

"You want me to check again to make sure you're definitely real." Alex jokes softly.

"Hmmmm."

Alex places a hand under Piper's jaw and brings her in for a kiss, their lips warm and familiar. This time they kiss; softly and exploratory as though they're both reclaiming lost lands. It's awhile after when they stand in comforting quiet , the rows of books forming into their own little enclave. Alex cannot tear her eyes away from Piper, she was seeing all of her and parts of her all at once, from her intensely blue eyes to her tousled hair, down to her too large prison uniform.

Alex thinks she really couldn't have looked anymore perfectly perfect.

"I knew you were going to get the library." Piper eventually speaks, "I just had this feeling."

"You had a feeling, huh?" Alex chuckled. "Has Boston Max given you special feeling powers now?"

"Oh yes definitely…I've also been gifted with the ability to switch my tastebuds off during every meal."

"Now that's a skill I need to master. The food here is something else."

"I have a theory the food has been chewed by people previously and then repackaged for us to later enjoy."

Alex laughs, "Is it awful to say I almost miss that meatloaf monstrosity they served on Fridays back at Litch?"

Piper pulls a disgusted face, "Fuck no! There's nothing worse on the planet than that so called meatloaf. Someone has to shoot me first before that passes through my mouth ever again."

"So I guess that's one thing definitely off the wedding menu I was planning." Alex jokes.

Piper's eyes perk up, "You're already planning the wedding, huh?" She tugs at Alex's sleeve, "What have you got in mind - I was thinking a prison wedding - think of it as the new wedding on a beach craze."

"Ten points for originality I must say."

They burst out laughing, both feeling the last of residual tension ebbing away. They let the silence build once again, the sounds of prison life gladly muffled and distanced.

Piper gently slides her fingers through Alex's hair, pressing herself against her and once again bringing their lips together.

Piper suddenly tears herself away and suddenly exclaims, "You're without a cast!"

Alex grins and nonchalantly moves her arm, demonstrating the very unbroken nature of it, "I'm a fully healed person now."

"When did it come off?"

"About a month ago…or maybe a month and a half?" Alex shrugs all of a sudden feeling the seriousness of the situation. "This place really messes with my perception of passing time. Anyway, they x-rayed it again and told me all was good."

Alex's watches Piper's face drop into a humourless expression, her arms falling back down her sides and her gaze dropping to the floor.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

It seems an age before Piper answers, "No, it's just…I've just suddenly realised how long it's been since we last saw each other, you know?" I've missed you so fucking much, Alex." Piper keeps fidgeting with Alex's sleeve when she glances up. Alex's heart breaks a little when she sees the anguish dull her face, "It sounds so cliche but I thought I was never going to see you again. I found out from Nicky you were in block ten and that apparently you looked okay. So that's what I kept convincing to myself every time I could feel myself spinning out." Piper's eyes glistened with unshed tears before she hurriedly wiped them away. "God…why am I even crying? I mean you're right in front of me, Al."

Alex doesn't think she could speak around the narrowing of her throat, nor could she quite breathe normally. The edges of her mind were still frayed with unpleasant memories but above all that it was the stark realisation of just how much she had _wanted_ Piper.

"Babe, don't cry." Alex trails her fingers over Piper's cheeks, gently wiping the tears away - the swell of overwhelming relief sat just beneath her own thin smile. "Otherwise I'm going to descend into the full waterworks too." Alex shakes her head, trying unsuccessfully to dampen down the rush of emotion, "And I promise you, you so do not want to see that."

"What?" She says between sniffles, a tentative smile forming amidst the tears, "Are you telling me you're not the hardened drug smuggler criminal I thought you were?"

"Oops, have I just blown my own cover?"

Piper stops for a moment, crinkled eyes with barely held back joy lift to meet Alex's, "You've blown it _so_ hard, babe. But that's okay, I don't mind. I think it's about time we were on equal grounds anyway."

Piper punctuates this by pushing herself flush against Alex, "Seeing as you're going to marry all of this, _fiancée"_

Alex cocks her head, eyebrows lifting, "Is that so, fellow _fiancée_?"

"Oh yes."

They kiss hard, making up for lost time.

There's an almost profound second just before the guards yell for count, and Piper was sat reading Jane Eyre out loud in a terrible British accent - where Alex all of a sudden felt off-kilter over how much love her heart held for the girl she was one day going to marry.

It must have been well over half an hour into their 'work hour' - although but to Alex it felt like mere seconds. She turns her head toward the large windows at the far wall. It's probably the first time they're able to see an unbidden sky through a window without the silhouette of bars.

"They're going to start wondering soon," Alex said quietly, her eyes fixed on the vista before them, her heart already darkening a little at the prospect of _this_ coming to an end. Dark wisps of clouds streaked across the orange hues of early dusk throwing the library into long shadows.

"Who the guards? I'm sure they are…but you don't worry about that now." Piper reassured, tugging Alex's top free from the waistband of her pants and slipping her hand around the bare of her back. Piper's touch was comforting. It was strange but Alex couldn't help but look at her and suddenly feel ten years worth of memories flash by.

Alex was almost shook out of a image filled trance when Piper softly nudges her, "Hey, Alex?"

"Yeah?"

Their gazes were still fixed on the slowly setting sun, Piper murmurs, "Remember that mixtape list you wrote out for me?"

Alex smiles, absently tracing circles on the back of Piper's hand, "You mean your non-birthday, birthday gift?"

Piper nods, and answers, her words full of staunch conviction, "I'm going to listen to those songs someday." She pauses as though reconsidering, " _We're_ going to listen to those songs _together_ someday...I promise you."

Alex squeezes her hand in response, wearily allowing herself to picture a life outside of here. Her voice low and serious, she answers, "Someday."

Piper rested her head against Alex's shoulders - both of them watching the darkening sun setting behind the faraway high rises of Boston city - both of them contemplating their future.

But for now it didn't really matter about the tomorrow, because the now was _here._ The now at this moment was Alex and Piper and nobody else.

Alex distantly thinks how much better it was to be watching the sky with Piper right beside her. And for a few minutes can almost imagine that maybe... _maybe_ things would be okay after all.

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 _._

 _AN / I really really hope this was worth the wait because boy, was this chapter an uphill struggle to write. Thank you for the read as always._


	6. Chapter 6

6\. I promise we'll see the sun together

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 _AN / I'm kinda stoked I at least semi-guessed the initial episodes of S6 with the where's Alex theme from the trailer / promo ha. Let's see how close (or far) this fic compares to the real deal. Anyway, without further ado._

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The queues for breakfast were long, the tail ends nearly spilling back onto the corridor. Alex wasn't hungry, the unappetising appearance of the food adding to the grey overcast clouds of the morning sky.

Library duties had been cancelled this week, and so were a handful of other work assignments. A few fights had broken out amongst a number of inmates, who's crime sheets included first degree murder and armed robbery amongst a few, one of whom needed serious medical attention. The faults of the few seemed to affect the many - something of an unwritten prison commandment.

It put Alex in a sullen mood, having to live through this long week with nothing to look forward to.

The physical distance between her and Piper was something that was more pronounced since they'd last seen each other - bringing with it a disorientating sense of loss

Although that was the main reason, Alex's arm too had been stopping her from sleeping these last few nights, she'd wake up drenched in a cold sweat soaking her clothes right through.

What the doctor hadn't told her was the shooting electrical type pains that would appear out of nowhere and would stop Alex in her tracks. She'd been taking her pain meds almost too religiously but they seemed to have little effect against the pain but instead just gave her really bad headaches.

She had one now, an incessant headache that showed no signs of abating. She shuffled forwards, slowly moving with the queue before reaching the front. Alex watched a young dark-haired girl slapping on a mound of grey-white coloured substance onto the trays - on closer inspection it was porridge or what was supposed to look like porridge. She holds her own tray out and lets her mind drift.

Recreation time was another five days away but the possible threat of a heavy snowfall and plunging temperatures meant it would most likely end up being cancelled. The thought of returning to her cell and spend the next eleven hours trying to tune out her cellmates' ramblings already made Alex feel exhausted. Quickly grabbing a few napkins she made her way to an empty table that was close enough to the windows but far enough to avoid conversation.

Alex sat in the same place she did most days, taking small comfort in the few routines of prison life she'd carved out for herself. She was good at blocking out the constant cacophony of raised voices, scraping forks on cheap plastic plates and the repetitive buzzing noise of the releasing doors. It was quite easy cocooning herself from reality itself. Alex was perfectly content with people regarding her as a lone wolf - someone with no friends or family waiting for her on the outside.

But today seemed to be different.

"Hey, can I sit here?"

It takes Alex a while to look up, slowly pulling herself out from her meandering thoughts. A woman was standing beside her, holding onto her tray and expectantly pointing her finger at the space directly in front of her. Never mind the fact the entire table was conspicuously empty.

The woman was maybe a few years younger than Alex; long brunette hair that looked much too polished than prison would allow. She's wearing grey, so she's not new, yet from her darting eyes that didn't seem to rest on anything for more than a few seconds and tense posture of her shoulders she seemed like she had only arrived yesterday.

But she had friendly eyes - hazel and light and she was sporting a small polite smile – albeit cautiously so Alex found herself lightly nodding a yes.

Alex preferred to spend most of her time alone, bar the very limited time with Piper of course. She wasn't in this shithole purgatory to make friends. Prison friendships were messy and unpredictable – they inevitably gave people access to information - and any information of any kind was valuable prison currency. But Alex also couldn't ignore those specific occasions where a twinge of jealousy would surface whenever she caught sight of inmates casually conversing with each other; laughing and sharing and touching. Although she was not here to make friends, it would also be nice to have the chance to get out of her own head sometimes.

So this woman was the first normal person had interacted with thus far. And normality was something so lacking in this barren place and it was how Alex finds herself sitting up a little straighter. She moves a few items around to create some space before the waiting woman to take a seat. It's a rule breaker but Alex fervently accepts this woman into her world of solitude.

"Thanks…I was beginning to think I was never going to be able to eat this disgusting mess of a breakfast." There's a nervous laugh, "I mean that would have been a real missed opportunity." The woman smiles at her own joke but it quickly disappears, her face instantly straightening when she registers Alex's lack of response.

She warily sits down, "I mean uh…I used to normally sit with McArthur, we were real close, y'know? But she got out yesterday. I knew it was on the books for weeks but it was still a shock to the system when she _actually_ left."

She was candid. Too candid for prison. For perspective: at Boston Max, just exchanging names was considered small talk. Alex catches the slightest hint of desperation glinting in the woman's eyes. She knows that look too well – the look of someone who's been held captive for too long and was frantically craving for that human connection taken for granted on the outside.

Alex leant back in her chair without breaking eye contact. Too bad she wasn't going offer any.

"Sorry, I'm rambling here and I haven't even introduced myself." She holds out a hand, "I'm Danielle, but people call me Dana."

Alex stares at the outstretched hand with quiet amusement, wondering how this wholesome looking woman who talked too much managed to land herself in this hellish landscape.

Something else that bugged Alex was the familiarity of her mannerisms, every so often Alex would be hit by the nagging sense she had met this woman before.

"Sorry." She drops her hand back down when Alex doesn't take it. "I'm being too forward aren't I?"

"A little."

"I guess different social etiquette in prison, right?"

"Something like that."

Alex drops her spoon, "Have we met before?"

"Not that I know of." Dana's eyes widen suddenly, "Unless you were in Pennsylvania? I was there for a couple of months."

"No," Alex carried on eating, "Never mind."

"Alex, right?"

Alex stops eating and narrows her eyes, mildly irritated at the woman's blunt attempt at surface level friendliness. It came across as hopelessly _try hard_.

Dana hastily points at Alex's badge, "I read your tag I mean."

"Right," Alex answers dismissively.

Dana's expression turned sheepish, a tinge of red colouring her cheeks, "Sorry, I didn't mean to weird you out. I guess I'm nervous or whatever. McArthur and I were; we were a tight knit duo…used to keep to ourselves and stay outta other people's business." She shrugs her shoulders, "I guess I've forgotten the prison code or whatever."

Alex watches her eat for a few moments, carefully studying her, before eventually asking, "So why are you in here?"

A pretty girl like you shouldn't be in this big bad place. Alex abruptly stops, the unthinking thought surprising her.

"Attempted murder," Dana casually answers. She shakes her head when she registers Alex's raised eyebrow. Sighing she takes a sip from her cup as though preparing herself yet again. Something tells Alex she's clearly told this story many times. "I had an abusive boyfriend – he drank too much- one night he decided I should become a human punching bag. I had enough of being said punch bag... turns out knives are pretty good tools to stop abusive domineering boyfriends, blah blah blah. I'm sure you can guess the rest."

"Sorry, that sounds fucked."

She waves her hand, "Oh don't be. I still regret not finishing the job. Besides, an attempted murder charge is such a great repellent at keeping trouble away from me."

Alex laughs a little too loudly at that, "Glad you can see the positives in life."

She turns to Alex, face suddenly curious, "You got any crazy boyfriends that have got you thrown in here?"

The question unexpectedly drags out a still of Piper's face, and it also brings with it a surprising dose of guilt. It had already been just over a week since they'd last seen each other in the library - yet it already felt like years.

"I have a fiancée actually," Alex eventually answers.

"Oh okay." Alex almost convinced herself she saw a sliver of disappointment briefly flash across the woman's eyes, "Does he come and visit?"

Alex hesitates, suddenly hit by a need to end this. She's about to announce the end of the conversation when Dana apologetically adds, "Sorry, that's none of my business."

Alex takes a sip of her water and simply shrugs. A silence pervades for a while that begins to feel discomforting so Alex gets to her feet and quickly says, "Sorry, I've got to go."

"Oh okay, I'll see you around,"

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* * *

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The approaching festivities of Thanksgiving somehow managed to blur the hard edges of incarceration. It was shy of three in the afternoon and Piper was headed to the library, walking past orange bunting and cheap Thanksgiving decor hung on the walls in a slapdash manner.

In the spirit of forgiveness (presumably), the powers that be had relaxed the stringent rules slightly, this meant allowing inmates twenty minutes longer at rec times and the use of the communal toilet facilities which had been out of bounds ever since an inmate had tried to ligature herself with the shower curtains in a botched suicide attempt.

So there was a noticeable change in Boston - almost like a butterfly effect - there were less fights, more camaraderie amongst the women and an uptick in general cheeriness around the place.

But the certain new bounce in Piper's stride had nothing to do with Thanksgiving or lenient prison staff. She couldn't help it - the too large smile so difficult to contain as she headed north and finally entered through the foyers of the library. It had been just over two weeks following the cancellation and it almost seemed surreal to think Piper was going to see her again in the next few minutes.

She immediately spots Alex stood by the window, half-hidden by the high book cabinets. It's ridiculous but Piper almost breaks into a run, the finish line and her reward stood casually amongst the fantasy and supernatural genres. Alex was holding a book aloft seemingly engrossed in whatever she was reading.

Piper soon closes the gap in the space of a single heartbeat and throws her arms around Alex, roughly pushing her back against the shelves, nearly causing her to drop the book.

Alex slowly returns the book and glances up with mock surprise, her reaction purposefully subdued, "Oh hey you. Didn't see you coming there."

Piper shakes her head, and whispers in her ear, "Liar liar, pants on fire," She doesn't wait for a response and just kisses her hard. God, she's missed this even though it was only last week they had last seen each other. Piper leans back for a moment, and finger combs Alex's hair back, "I _know_ you saw me coming from a mile off, so don't think you can fool me, Al."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." There's definitely a touch of tease in Alex's answer which spurs Piper into wanting to kiss her again. So she delicately removes Alex's glasses and pops them in her pocket before reconnecting their lips again. She insistently tugs to free Alex's top and moves her hands beneath the fabric and lets them glide over warm flesh.

"Oh really?" Piper answers all smug, her voice all breathy. "Since when has Lord of the Rings tickled your fancy?" She grabs the book Alex had just returned and holds it up as way of evidence. She can't help but sport a massively self-satisfied smirk.

Alex instead of predictably looking all guilty actually looks super pleased with herself, "May I tickle _your_ fancy to make it up to you, Piper Chapman?"

Piper can't help but laugh out loud, "And what does that mean-" but she's abruptly cut short by deft hands disappearing underneath the waistband of her pants. Alex deliberately wedged her leg into Piper's juncture which caused a barely held back groan to escape from her, "Fuck, have I missed you a lot."

"Me too," Piper murmurs emphatically. She quickly looks over her shoulder, making sure there were no unexpected guards patrolling nearby. Thankfully, the place was also large enough for the inmates to be spread out far and wide. She groans in Alex's hair just as practiced fingers trigger off a seismically sized wave of pleasure, "You're too fantastically good at this, jesus."

"Just fantastically good?" Alex whispered, her own breathing rapid and warm against Piper's neck.

" _Amazinglygood_." Piper managed to gasp in one short breath.

"Atta girl," Alex's chuckle was swallowed up by Piper's mouth once again crashing into hers.

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Piper had become so used to her largely solitary existence, mutely following the prison routine that had become so repetitive she could live through days and not realise a week had already gone by. So it was still very much of a surprise every time Tuesday morning rolled around and the voice from the overhead tannoy declared it was work duty period.

The days were organised around that one specific hour in the week. That hour provided Piper with the fuel to be able to face the rest of the week: it made the food taste that little better, her patience stretched a little longer and of course, glad to know that they were both okay for that week at least.

Sometimes her and Alex would just sit on the floor of the library and engage in hour long conversations about everything and nothing. It was nice; they way they so easily fell back in to that effortless back and forth. Whilst other times the hour was swallowed up by kisses and touches and a lot of suppressed groans. There was obviously work to be done although not as significant as those placed in other job roles, but that was a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

Piper and Alex always remained close for that time. It was an unconscious thing on both their parts but an hour once a week was as rare as rain in a long-standing drought so there was almost a necessitated need not to waste even a second of it.

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* * *

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It was just after lights out when Piper settled in beneath her duvet and got ready to sleep Just before she was about to doze off she was nudged hard by Gutierrez. "Hey!"

Piper jolts up, eyes blinking a few times when a bright light was shone in her face, "Jesus Christ, what?"

"Don't just sit there. Gimme a hand." Morgan whispers from somewhere in the dark, "Grab me some of that toilet paper why don't you?"

Piper rolls her eyes in the dark, "Is that why you woke me up?"

"Too many questions, and not enough answers. That's Chapman in a nutshell for ya'll." Morgan snickers.

Piper knew enough than to argue. She had no interest in these people she called her cellmates but an important thing in these parts was to establish friendly relationships. So in the sole interest of self-preservation Piper reluctantly climbed off the bed and handed Gutierrez the toilet paper.

"Thanks," She snatches from Piper and with the other hand rummages in her bra before producing a small stick of lead obviously removed from a pencil. Piper watches her with curious interest as she wrapped a square of toilet paper around the lead before climbing onto the toilet seat and reach for the plug behind the mounted television that had never worked.

Gutierrez removes the plug from the socket slightly and placed the paper wrapped lead against it for a few minutes.

"We didn't wake you up specifically to pass us toilet paper, jeez Chapman. We still have _some_ humanity." Morgan remarks dryly. "We just didn't want you to miss the show. Watch and learn, baby."

No sooner had she finished speaking, when small wisps of smoke started billowing and it was another minute until the paper caught alight. She then produced a what looked like homemade cigarette and triumphantly lit it.

Piper's eyes widened in disbelief and was forever surprised at the tricks inmates seemed to possess, "Isn't the smell of smoke going to alert the guards?"

Gutierrez scoffs, "The fuck with your party pooper bullshit." She purposefully blows the smoke into the toilet bowl, "See? The smoke gonna get dissolved into the water - no smoke, no smell."

She holds out the cigarette, "Want a drag?"

Piper shakes her head but has to hand it to them, that was pretty clever.

Morgan grabs the cig before sidling up beside Piper. "So you and library, huh?"

"Uh yeah."

She takes a keen drag, "So uh how is it down there?"

Piper frowns at the strange question, "The library you mean? There are a lot of books and a lot of filing to be done."

Gutierrez tone turns derisive, "Don't be a smartass, Chapman. Every time that buzz goes for duties your ass is outta here faster than road fucking runner."

"So what's the deal down there?" Morgan interjects. "Nobody can be that fucking happy."

The air turned uneasy. Piper became aware of the uncomfortable undercurrents radiating off her cellmates. Although amicable Morgan and Gutierrez have given off the vibe of people Piper shouldn't fully trust. Or at all. There was always something distinctly sinister about their actions and questions they posed to her.

"There is no deal - I just do my job. I'm just glad to be able to get out of here for…it can get a little claustrophobic." Piper answered carefully. Privately, she berates herself, they've clearly mistook her excitement for being able to see Alex as some sort of excitement for running a what? A drug operation? A smuggling scheme?

Morgan smiles conspiratorially, "Come on now. Has Tesha recruited you into Yolanda's little business enterprise? You can tell us, we won't tell."

Piper shook her head emphatically, "I'm sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about. Who's Yolanda?"

Gutierrez's face twists into one of scandalous outrage, "Yolanda is a fucking demon who eats pretty girls like you for breakfast. The bitch has about ten life sentences and doesn't give a fuck about anything. She's got more guards in her pocket than anyone in the entire goddamn land. She be running a thrifty little drug ring from a few hot spots - the library being one of them." She steps closer, "No heads are going to roll, we just wanna get a cut of the market. Any information is _good_ information."

Piper backs away and starts climbing back in her own bunk, "I just like books, nothing more, nothing less."

Piper's doesn't miss the private glance they give each other, before Gutierrez softly responds, "If you say so, honey."

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* * *

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It was a languid Tuesday morning that had that quality of turning into one of those days where time passed at a comfortably slow pace.

They're sat on the floor, Alex's head lazily resting on Piper's lap, while Piper absently ran her fingers through her hair.

"Did I tell you apparently there's some kind of drug ring that's working from the library?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you heard of some woman called, Yolanda? Apparently she's this big thing in here?"

"I've heard my bunkies mention her a few times, can't say I've met her though."

"I'm a little uncomfortable about the fact there's a drug operation literally in the same space as us." Piper pauses for a moment and bends down to Alex's ear, "What if one of the guards finds out and they close this place down?"

"Relax, Chapman." Alex looks up and winks at her, "All the more reason for us to make the most of our 'free time' don't you think?"

Piper leans back, an inward smile swelling her heart. Alex always _always_ had a way of making everything seem alright, she truly was the anchor to Piper's sometimes swaying ship in the stormy seas.

"You know I'm already looking forward to next week even though the hour isn't even over yet, is that weird?" Piper thought out loud suddenly bowled over with that intense feeling of just loving someone.

Alex tilts her head back. The smile that crept over her face, almost day-dreamy, "Totally weird."

Piper rolled her eyes, "Since when have you turned so _arsey?_ Scratch that, you've always been like this. I should totally know better."

Alex pushes her glasses up, and sits up, "You've become quite the feisty one, haven't you?"

Piper simply shrugs her shoulders, "Yeah well, this is max, babe. I've got to up my tough girl shtick."

Alex's eyes narrow, her eyes darkening with seductive promise. Her fingers lightly trailing the contours of Piper's jaw, "That sounds really hot." She points at the white label adorning the shelf, "How about some action amongst the action books?"

Piper holds back up a laugh. "Clearly your humour is still serving a sentence back at Litch. Too bad you could't haul it on that bus with you."

Smart-ass," She squeezes Piper's ass, her hand lingering a little too long. Piper watched Alex's eyes flickered down the length of her body. She felt her cheeks inject with warmth and Alex obviously noticed because it drew a wicked, joyous smile. "And I guess you must have left yours back in Connecticut. It's been pretty much non-existent for years."

"You really wanna go there, huh?"

"As a matter of fact I'd like to go _all the way_ if you don't mind." Alex answers, her voice husky and tone heavy with brazen innuendo.

They get to their feet just as Piper pushed her back against an oak desk stowed between two book cases. "I'll decide that, shall we?"

Alex raises her eyebrows in expectation, a few stray strands of dark hair falling over her face. Her green eyes slowly glinted with a heavy wanton Piper hadn't seen for a while. It triggers something deep inside her, a wild hunger that had lain dormant for far too long. "Such tough decisions." Alex softly joked.

It's a little daring and possibly dangerous but her heart is pounding and her pulse flat out racing so she throws all caution to the wind. Piper runs her hands beneath Alex's top, her fingers trawling the ladder of ribs, the skin above hot and sensuous.

She tilted her head upwards and locked eyes with Alex. "It's a good thing that I'm a very decisive person then." There's an unwritten cue they both respond to at the same time. Lips part and pressed against each other's - the surge of want that came was almost instantaneous. Alex's tongue runs lightly over her neck, stoking a fire skating over her skin.

Piper's hands where before they were gentle and unerring now frantically traced upwards, fingers tugging against the bra material before finally gaining access. Alex groaned as Piper grabbed hold of breasts, the result causing Alex to buck forwards and kiss her harder, tongues probing and hands roaming.

* * *

"Alex!" Someone whisper-yells from the next row of books. Alex and Piper both jerk around toward the source of the warning voice. Alex catches Dana wildly gesturing to somewhere beyond Piper's left. They both swivel around and spot a CO ambling through the history section, eyes scanning and inspecting. He was only a few rows down from where they were _rendezvous-ing_ and rapidly getting closer.

"Ladies!" He shouts in their general vicinity, "Assignments are over! Please make your way to the exits and wait to be processed back to your cells."

It's not a second later when he reaches Alex and Piper, and points his finger at them, "That includes both of you too."

There was no sign in his expression to suggest he'd spotted them apart from the general _gotta look tough_ most guards seemed to share. He carried on rounding up the rest of the inmates just as their hearts deflate with relief.

They both silently nod and walk toward the exit. Alex flicks her eyes at Dana and gives her a silent thank you. Dana smiles back, and joins the back of the queue of waiting inmates.

"Who was that?" Piper asks when they both pass through processing.

"Just a woman in our cell block."

"She seems nice."

"Yeah she is."

Alex doesn't know why holding eye contact with Piper all of a sudden had become so very difficult.

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After lunch Alex headed out onto the exercise yard. Rec time had eventually been reinstated following a particularly nasty snowfall that had lasted several days. The yard previously covered in a thick blanket of snow, was now a sea of grey melting sludge. But she didn't mind, glad to breath in air other than the stale smells of her cell and shake off the oppressive and cloying indoors of the prison.

It was still freezing out, the rays of the cold sun doing nothing to provide even a sliver of warmth. But the sky was a pale blue and unbidden, the air crisp and fresh which invoked a calm sense of space. Alex pulled her jacket closer to her body and stepped out.

There were a few other women walking the yard, some huddled together in small clusters, and others perfectly content with their own company.

Alex began walking her usual path around the yard. Halfway down she spots Dana at a bench on her own, her head conspicuously rested in her folded arms. She wasn't wearing a jacket, the cold wind ruffling her air and flimsy prison overalls.

Alex had spoken to her a few times since that day at breakfast and had learned they were of the same two cell blocks that shared mealtimes and rec time. Alex had never spotted her at both occasions since she'd arrived but Dana had explained that since her friend being released she had opted out of rec time and only went to meals just before the last buzz in order to avoid the crowds.

Alex had been meaning to thank her for the warning in the library last week so without really thinking beyond that, she veers off her usual course and heads towards her.

"Hey." Alex nudges her slightly as she sat down beside her. There was no real response apart from a bristling _leave me alone_

"Dana, you okay?"

With obvious effort Dana lifts her head, face twisted into annoyance. She's about to say something when she recognises Alex and mumbles an apology, "Oh hey, Alex." She smiles without humour, "Sorry, didn't realise it was you."

Her eyes were bloodshot, hair tangled in an uncaring mess. She looked like she'd been crying for weeks.

"It's fine."

"I'm normally quite polite, I promise." She mutters tonelessly, teeth chattering from the cold

"Dana, it's fucking freezing out here. Let me get you a jacket." Alex offers, immediately standing up.

"I'm fine." She waves her hand dismissively, "Just leave me be, Alex. Please."

It's the movement of her hands that strikes something in Alex. She was once again struck by that lingering feeling they had met before. She was no closer to figuring out where than the first time Alex had met her. It was probably a fluke in her memory anyway.

Alex didn't leave but instead remained seated. She was must have dozed off into a daydream when Dana's voice lands her back, "Look Alex…I'm sorry. I just…" She trails off and suddenly sits upright, her face wrestling itself into an impassive expression, "I've had a phone call from my dad last week telling me my mom died." That statement seems to set her off into a new round of sobs, "It's her funeral today and I'm in fucking here." Tears are now freely rolling, "It's her fucking funeral and I'm in here a thousand miles away."

"I'm sorry." There's a dormant memory that seemed to wrestle itself free inside of Alex. She clenches her teeth, jaw muscles rippling underneath her skin, struggling against the raw emotion of Diane's death bubbling up. She too hadn't been there when her mother died, wasn't even in the same country when it happened.

"Don't apologise," Dana thankfully breaks the memory, "I'm the one who landed myself in here." She laughs, "My mom was a staunch Lutheran so try and imagine her reaction when she she found out her seemingly perfect daughter was headed to maximum jail."

Alex hesitates when her hand reaches for Dana's. She stops herself at the last second.

It somehow didn't seem right.

"It's not your fault."

Dana doesn't seem to hear, "I was set in life…about to marry my boyfriend of six years, accepted at a law firm, no less. What fucking irony. And now, I can't even go to my own mother's funeral." Dana looked away embarrassed, "Look at me offloading my shitty life story to you. As if you haven't got enough of your own stuff to deal with."

Alex narrows her eyes, "What do you mean?"

Dana looks up, mildly confused, "Well I figured being in max is kinda shitty to begin with."

"Oh. Yeah sure."

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* * *

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Although they had established a routine in their meetings, there was still the unknown that loomed so obviously over them. Piper's time at max had slowly become a familiar pattern but like Litchfield, she knew this could too come to an abrupt end. There was only a month or so left of her sentence, something that seemed so absurd to come to terms with.

There had always been that vague _this is coming to an end_ notion she would be reminded of but now, when it was something that could be counted in days, suddenly had become a thing that had become the persistent white elephant in the room.

Alex hadn't brought this up once - apart from that initial pep talk when they first entered there hadn't been any indication that she thought of a future beyond the here and now.

Piper however lacks nerve and it's uncomfortable as to the reason why. She would rather wait for Alex to bring it up than be the one to bring good news that was also in a sense _bad news_. It's an illogical way of thinking but somehow cementing it as reality by speaking it aloud makes her conscience swell with immeasurable guilt. She'll be out soon — and Alex won't be.

So she keeps quiet at their third and fourth and fifth encounter. And the many after.

Each time Piper lets herself live in the moment, forcefully convincing herself that the now was now and the later was _later._

It's a flimsy excuse but it held barely.

* * *

But it's following a telephone call some weeks later with her mother that Piper finally decides that talking about the future wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

They're quietly passing books to one another, Piper stacking and Alex filing. It was perfectly harmonious but it abruptly comes to an end with Piper's left of field question, "Alex, what does our future hold?"

Alex pauses, her hand resting on the book she was still holding, "What do you mean?"

"I mean…what's our plan. What's our goal?"

Alex sighs and takes a step back, her head leaning against one of the shelves, "My plan, Piper - is to be with you." She levels her gaze at Piper, "My grand plan is to live an easy life, hell I'm willing to live the simplest of lives." Her voice turns almost wistful, "A life where we can complain about crappy tv shows, have garden barbecues, eat burnt burgers because we _can_ and have sex when we want and where we want."

Piper's heart swells as Alex's words conjured up bucolic images of white picket fences and lazy evenings spent atop garden roofs. It's beckoning, so real and possible. But Piper always had been that sort of person who had to read the instructions before they'd set out putting new furniture together. Alex…Alex on the other hand had always been the fuck it and let's just do it and see what happens type and that never bothered Piper, until now.

Alex obviously picked up on Piper's reservations because she took a purposeful step forwards and wrapped her arms around Piper's waist pulling her towards herself. As the moments passed the first rug of anxiety gently morphed into something altogether more comforting. Piper let her head rest against Alex's nape.

Alex brought a hand up and gently stroked her face, "I get it." She begins, the soft vibrations of her voice soothing against Piper's cheek. "I get what you mean…I do truly, Pipes. I can't just expect you to freely accept a vague happily after. I'm not going to lie and say I haven't thought about your sentence coming to an end soon. Because I have."

She takes a deep breath as though recollecting herself, "I've thought about it day in and day out…thought about what that means for us, which I know sounds fucking selfish and I know I shouldn't even be thinking like that but I do." Alex tilts her head down and placed a soft kiss on Piper's cheek, as though she's apologising, "But here's the thing…there's never going to be such a thing as a happily ever after. There is no _after_ because there is only a now, and yes - there are going to be ups and downs… but that's life, Piper" Alex suddenly looks up, scanning the room for emphasis, "Nothing absolutely nothing…can be worse than what we've been through and I think, hell I hope that anything beyond that is something we can at least learn and work through."

"I know." Piper leans back, their eyes catching and repeats, "I know." There's a deep emotion scratching at the base of her throat. Her worries earlier, seemed so minute all of a sudden. They stood there in silence, letting the words sink in. Piper could have stayed there all night, above the rest of the world, savouring the warmth of Alex's hand in hers, feeling the worst of herself begin to drift away.

"One step at a time…that's how we're going to do things." Alex reassures softly.

Piper grins. She brings both hands to Alex's face, and pushes the errant hair away before kissing her tenderly, then more deeply, "I love you, you know that?"

Alex absently stroke her arms and cocks her head in theatrical surprise, " You do?"

She bites back the edges of a creeping smile, "You're such an ass, seriously." Piper stops for a moment and speaks, " Okay, but this whole free fall / ces't la vie thing - can we at least make an exception?"

"Hmmmm."

"Because I think I would _die_ if I can't at least plan our wedding."

"A wedding you say?" Alex snorts, "Why am I not surprised in the slightest if you tell me you've already picked out the colour schemes and the type of flowers and probably even who's invited and who's not."

Piper smiles sheepishly, " Would you laugh if I said I've already narrowed down our top three venues?"

Alex does laugh, hard.

Piper thinks the whole entire world should pause to appreciate the goodness that was Alex Vause and by god she couldn't wait another second to marry her sarcastic partner in crime ( quite literally)

"And the colour schemes are obviously going to be some kind of pastel, jeez what do you take me for?"

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* * *

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It was an uncharacteristically warm weekend morning, the rays of the sun even managing to penetrate through the grimy corridor windows. The rest of the week had been fairly uneventful and apart from Piper's library meet with Alex there hadn't been anything of interest she had noted down mentally.

Piper walked down the hall and was headed to the recreation area. She had managed to smuggle a small piece of toast out of the canteen and had it currently wrapped inside the pockets of the coat they'd been handed. She did that often, taking out pieces of food just before rec and nibbling at it as she walked around the yard. It was a small additional comfort that Piper liked to savour.

Too engrossed in her thoughts she turned a corner and walked squarely into a woman walking the other direction. An automatic apology was about to lead Piper's mouth when she was shoved hard against the wall, "Watch where you're going, bitch."

The woman, a tall thing with a square beefy face and menacing eyes was currently holding Piper trapped in her angry glare.

'I'm sorry." Piper mumbled before instinctively scanning the corridor for any nearby patrolling guards, "I didn't see you, I'm sorry." She started to brush past her but was backed toward the wall.

A flicker of suspicion crossed her eyes when she read Piper's name tag, "Chapman, huh?"

Her grip on Piper tightened ever further. The woman was big - probably well north of two hundred pounds, her clasp around Piper's arm felt like a iron vise brutally closing in. "Heard you've been running that tight little mouth of yours."

The pounding of Piper's heart paused to make way for genuine surprise, "Sorry?"

"I've been informed by a couple of my gals you've been mentioning a few things about my library dealings."

Piper finally clocked on what the woman was referring to. Her fucking bunkies must have got pissed off and lied about Piper talking about this mystical drug business."

With panicked staccato, Piper tried to explain, "I swear, I have nothing do with that. I don't even know anything of a drug smuggle."

The woman's eyes perked up dangerously, "Who said anything about a drug smuggle?"

Piper instantly realised her mistake and felt her heart drop into a deep pit of fear. Why was the hallway so conspicuously empty all of a sudden?

The woman smiles, "You know…there's a lot of blind spots where the cameras don't reach in this place and this happens to be one of them." She jerks Piper back, hand held at her throat, "Do you now what happens to entitled bitches who can't keep their mouths shut?"

Piper struggled against the weight of the woman's hand, her airway close to getting cut off, "I swear…it's not me…I have nothing-"

"Hey, hey, hey…you ever been to solitary? Or medical?" She smiles all rotten teeth and bad breath.

Piper opened her mouth to protest but was greeted by a punch into the side of her head. Her whole body jolted sideways and the only thing that kept Piper from hitting the floor was the tight grasp the woman had on her. Piper's vision temporarily turned into a sea of stars, a shooting pain rocketing through her skull.

The pain abruptly stops when she feels a new sensation - something hard and sharp was pressing into her lower abdomen. She looks down and sees the classic toothbrush modelled into a shank held firmly against her.

"It's the stereotypical jail story; the snitch and the shank. What a fucking delight."

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 _AN/ Dun dun dun..._

 _I'm aiming to post the next chapter tomorrow or the day after. You'll be pleased to know I should have enough writing time in the next couple of days. Thanks for the read, everyone._


	7. Chapter 7

7\. Never let your guard down.

* * *

 _AN/ As promised_.

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There was an unusually increased din of activity permeating the prison hallways. Everywhere Alex looked inmates were huddled in groups or pairs their excited chatter blending into one stream of noise.

Lunch had just finished. She headed back to her cell and walked into Dee and Shay engaged in what looked like deep conversation. Normally, their interactions with Alex didn't go beyond the hi's and bye's but today Shay turned around when she saw Alex walking in. She turned her back and spoke to her, "Hey glasses, you heard what happened?"

"No," Alex had no real interest in maintaining dialogue and instead busied herself in organising her bed hoping her cellmate would get the hint.

"Oh you wanna know this," Dee chipped in, "Yolanda's done a girl in real good, she's either in solitary or dead."

Alex stops what she's doing and turned around, "Who?"

"Some new gal, blonde, yay high," Dee gestures the height as above her head, "She talked back to her and was giving a proper once over."

Alex narrows her eyes, "So why you are telling me this, specifically."

Shay rolls her eyes, "'Cause prison news is better than the super bowl and ain't nobody who don't watch the super bowl."

Yolanda, There's a discernible discomfort when Alex recognises the name as the one Piper had mentioned when they'd last seen each other. She sits down on the bed, her face carefully void of expression, "You happen to know her name?"

"Fuck knows," Shay answers. She's already lost interest when Alex hadn't engaged in the same level of excitement. "All I know she's from block six and she got herself a good beating."

Alex tried her hardest to quell the rising dread bubbling up just beneath her skin.

Piper was from block six

* * *

Dana placed a comforting hand over Alex's, "Hey, you've got to learn how to relax. I'm going to risk playing devil's advocate here but I'm willing to bet my life savings your friend is going to be fine."

Alex gave a sheepish smile, "Sorry, I've just been quite tense lately. I mean look at this place - it doesn't exactly inspire calm and relaxation."

"What you mean the graffitied walls with pleasant phrases like kill yourself and I want to die are not relaxing?"

Their eyes met for a brief moment. Alex felt the heat of Dana's hand still resting atop hers. Without realising she roughly pulls her hand back and smiling awkwardly, "I'm going for a quick walk before count."

"We can walk together?"

"I'd rather be on my own if you don't mind."

By the time Alex got up and and levelled into a steady pace the disconcerting moment had already passed which made her wonder whether she had just imagined it.

 _._

 _._

 _._

"Do you know what happened?" Alex asks as soon as she's close enough to the metal bars that separated her cell block from seven. The woman, a young but confident thing turns her nose at her and jerks back, her face a picture of over the top anger.

"Who the fuck are you? Get the fuck away from me?"

Alex holds back a frustrated sign and starts, "Listen…please just listen. You're in cell block …right? I just want to know what happened."

The woman regards her for a moment as though deciding whether or not Alex was worthy of her time.

She cocks her head to the side, "Why you so interested anyway?"

Alex stays quiet, all of a sudden feeling as though she wants to hurl. She barely hears herself above the din of rapid fire thoughts crowding her brain right now. "I just…I just need to know."

A combo of unease and pity fill the woman's eyes, "Some new gal walked into Yolanda's path and decided to talk back." She scoffs, "Errbody knows Yolanda is one stone cold bitch. I mean the bitch is responsible for at least four other gals ending up in solitary. She don't give a shit about shots and added sentence. Wha's the worse that's gonna happen to her? She gonna get another thirty years added to her six life sentences? She know she ain't never getting out…might as well make the fun last."

Alex's stomach clenches shut. She balls her hands into fists, forcing the wave of nausea down, "What does she look like?"

"Yolanda, you mean? Butch as fuck, built like a tree and niftier than a fox."

"No, the other person."

The woman seems to mistake Alex's impending fear for excitement and carries on spilling without answering the question. "Anyway new gal got knocked around pretty bad – two matching shiners and a sure nosebleed. God knows about her insides, surely fucked up too. Anyway, fucked up thing is, shes the one who gets sent to solitary." The woman laughs, "Fuck knows how she's gonna survive in there – she looked like some gal ripped straight outta the how to be white and rich catalogue." She eyes Alex with a purposeful rove, "You though. You look like you could hold yourself up in a bust-up."

Alex felt a dread stirring up inside her forcing her to take deep breaths. Her voice all wooden and measured, she asks, "Do you know her name?"

"Who? Solitary girl?" The woman was distracted by the spectacle of an inmate being manhandled by a CO. There was a hunger of excitement in her eyes. Alex resisted the urge to pull the woman against the bars and throttle the answers out of her.

But she settles for a calm response, "Yes."

"Fuck knows."

"Can you at least find out?"

The woman suddenly jerks her head, speaking to a person outside of Alex's line of vision, "Hey, B, who's the white gal that got sent down to the dungeons?"

"You mean Garrison?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

Alex nearly drops to her knees – the overwhelming relief so gut-wrenchingly welcomed.

The woman stares at her as she tentatively backs away , "You're fucking weird."

The only words registering in Alex's brain right now was Piper was okay and that's all that mattered.

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"Chapman? Piper Chapman!"

Piper jolted off the bed, the loud baritone voice of a guard jerking her out of fitful sleep. The encounter from a couple of days was still rolling around in her skull. Piper still couldn't help but flinch when she remembered the sharp point of the shank digging into her stomach. Then the only thought that had raced through her mind was who was going to explain to Alex what had happened? And how she was going to cope?

Of course, dying was also a very visceral fear Piper had had but it had still been a secondary feeling. Luckily, two patrolling guards had turned the corner and Yolanda had quickly scarpered, leaving Piper all but collapse to the floor. The guards had questioned her a little, knowing the reputation Yolanda held and after Piper's shrugs of indifference they had eventually left her alone.

Now Still groggy, Piper slowly squints her eyes open, and was met by the unimpressed face of a guard looking straight at her her. "Stand up, inmate!"

Piper scrambled out of her bed and stood against the wall, "What time is it?" She peered out of the window and noticed the sky outside was still dark - it couldn't have been past six am.

He ignores her question and instead barks, "You have a prison appointed meeting with the assistant warden."

Piper's face twists into confusion, "Now?"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?"

"Nobody told me I had a meeting." She looks down at her grey nightie, "I mean I'm not even dressed yet."

The guard releases a rumbling guffaw, "In case it's escaped your knowledge…this is prison, Chapman. We don't do pre-made appointments. Here, everything happens in real time." He pointedly stares her down, daring her to protest, "Unless this clashes with your social calendar?"

"No, no."

Piper quickly grabbed her slippers and hastily starts following him out. She feels the gaze of her cellmates burning into her back.

"I've been asking to see the warden for the last seven moths and she gotta go? Just like that?" Gutierrez retorts angrily. "What she got that I ain't?"

"Simmer down, inmate!"

"Fucking white privilege. Progression my damn ass." Piper hears her mutter. She's glad when the guard rolls the door open and shuts it behind them.

It was a few steps down the hallway when Piper asks, "Did they say what it's regarding?"

The guard's face showed no signs of acknowledging her question, instead he hurried his pace even faster, forcing Piper to take quicker strides, barely able to keep up with him.

"Is it good or bad?" She asked again, a perceptible fear brewing in the pit of her stomach. There were an infinite number of reason why she was suddenly beckoned to see the administration; the riot, Piscatella, Aydin…Alex. Her brain jolts still when it catches up with her thinking - Alex. Had the DOC found out about Alex's involvement in Aydin's death? Was this why she was now being dragged to the assistant warden for an interrogation?

The guard continued to pace along long, grimy corridors, deeper into the bowels of the unknown. They head outside, carrying through a narrow pathway lined with high fences dotted with angry signs warning inmates of severe punishment in the event of attempted escape. It's irrelevant to her situation but it instils a further notch of panic inside Piper's stomach. The morning was frosty, the air so dry and wintry it tingled against her skin. She could see her breaths, tiny wisps of white clouds moving back and forth.

"Look," She started pleading, the reality of what was happening all of a sudden hitting Piper all at once, "I just want to-"

"We're here." He barks, suddenly stopping in front of an expensive looking oak door adorned with a gold-rimmed name plate: Asst. Warden S Hughes.

The gaudy door looked so ludicrously out of place, set against the drab, mostly dark hallway and its cheap plaster walls. Before Piper could ask anything further the guard knocked on the door and swung it open and all but pushed Piper inside.

Half stumbling in, Piper managed to take the room in. The assistant warden's office was a large spacious room with high ceilings and pastel decor. A large antique desk took up most of the space, a few shelves above it lined with haphazardly placed stacks of paper and files. There was an attempt at trying to inject some personality into the room by way of a snow globe and a crystal paper weight resting on the left of the desk.

Piper inwardly scoffed - it would take a hell of a lot more of knickknacks to turn a fucking prison no less into a nostalgic grannies front room. The murderers and rapists roaming about the place made sure of that.

"You must be Piper Chapman."

Piper glanced up and nodded - the assistant warden was a woman - athletically built, bespectacled with dark blonde hair. She wore a tailored dark suit that fit so perfectly it made Piper all too sudden aware of her own shapeless prison pyjamas. The warden, with her sharp and scrutinous gaze looked more suited to leading a security detail for the federal bureau than be running a woman's prison.

"Please," She gestured, "Take a seat."

Self conscious of her night gown and bare feet in slippers, Piper quickly explains, "I wasn't told until five minutes ago I was supposed to have this meeting. I would have got dressed otherwise."

The warden warmly smiles, "I informed the duty CO to make you aware of this meeting some three days ago." She shakes her head, "I have come to expect the women in this establishment not to have any idea of a meeting until just before they come to see me."

Piper watches the woman shuffle a few folders before her hand settles on one in particular and starts flicking through it. She stops at a thickish looking manila folder and folds it open.

Now sat in her chair, Piper felt a rising dread grow insider her - the same out of control fear bellowing through her right now. Truth be told, she was expecting this meeting from the moment she'd stepped foot in this place. So she shouldn't even be surprised.

The news coverage of the Litchfield riot must have been humungous. Piper remembers the immediate aftermath - dozens of media vans with their mounted satellites parked outside the prison - reporters and their camera crews eagerly lapping up the drama and snapping everything in their sight in the hope of it turning into a juicy centre piece for the six o clock news. There was bound to be photographs with Piper in it - it was almost inevitable.

The assistant warden starts speaking, "I have been following the events at Litchfield with great interest and I'm sure you understand by now - we, the federal corrections department have a responsibility to appropriately deal with inmates who have played significant roles in these riots."

Under the desk, Piper could feel her foot shake so hard that her shoe was about to fall off. She strangled her fingers together in the hope of confining her anxiety beneath the table. There was a dull ache in her jaw from clenching her teeth for too long as her mind's eye conjured up images of grimy solitary cells and added time and visits where Piper would have to explain to her family she wasn't going to be released anytime soon.

"I understand your sentence was due to expire in a month."

She remembers to speak, "Uh yes."

"Of course, there are procedures when a significant change is made to an inmate's sentence which is why I requested to expedite this meeting." The warden pauses, searching Piper's face with an ambiguous intensity that brought no solace to Piper.

"I- I would like to add, that I-" Piper starts , her voice wavering with panic, the distant thunder of added sentences quickly turning into lightnings of reality. But her words trail off when the woman removes her glasses and starts speaking.

"Ms Chapman, I don't think you quite understand ," She shuffles a few papers and looks back up, "We've been watching each and every one of you since your cohort arrived at our premises and you have been nothing but a model inmate. You have not incurred a single warning or infraction or even a caution." She takes a pause, "You're entitled to an early release."

Piper's head snapped up in surprise, unsure whether she heard the woman right, "Sorry?"

"You're getting out in five days. Congratulations."

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Tuesday couldn't have come any slower yet on one hand Piper felt as though time had been deliberately fast forwarded.

It's the first time the library work was allowed to be extended into the storage room, a small place located at the back of the library which held most of the prison's relinquished books. It was a small space with dusty shelves stacked up high against mouldy walls.

Piper was tasked with separating the fiction from non-fiction books and process them all into boxes, already marked and ready to be recycled to other agencies and charities. It was presumably the prison's attempt at goodwill which was something Piper found quite odd. But the job was challenging enough to require her full concentration, providing Pioer with a reprieve she so desperately welcomed.

She's reaching upwards to pick up books of a shelf much higher than herself, when someone walks up behind her and wraps their arms around her.

"Alex! I-"

But she's cut short by Alex's rather enthusiastic greeting. Alex's hands are grabbing onto her top, almost grappling for purchase, like she can't quite believe Piper was a real and living thing.

Alex pulls her in for a long and deep kiss that seemed to go on forever not that Piper minded but it made her seem weary somehow, the permanently etched what if ballooning itself into something more tangible. Had Alex found out about her early release and this was some form of a goodbye kiss?

Alex finally breaks the kiss and nuzzles her mouth into the juncture of Piper's neck and shoulder, before whispering, "Woah, you're really here." She placed her chin over Piper's shoulders, and delivered a chaste kiss on the side of her neck.

"Hey." Piper turns around, hoping the smile plastered across her face looked vaguely joyful, "You're really happy this morning."

Alex scoffs, "I wasn't until about two minutes ago." She catches Piper's stone-faced expression, "By that I mean you were the changing factor of my mood. Unless you've grown tired of me, Chapman?"

"You're being ridiculous." Was all Piper allowed herself.

They looked at each other, the silence once comfortable to Piper but was now so mentally draining. Alex's face looked as though it was wrestling in trying to keep up a happy front. It's another few moment when Alex speaks, "No, but in all seriousness I thought something had happened to you," She waves her hands dismissively, "You know prison rumours...they can get out of hand sometimes." Alex shakes her head, "But that's all in the past now."

Piper had the distinct feeling she was downplaying a lot and it had her temporarily forget her own anxiety over how she was going to break the news. She could could pick up on the carefully contained tension darkening Alex's eyes. She also knew, the tight clasping of hands, was Alex's way of dealing with emotional conflict.

Piper grabs Alex's hand and says, all understanding, "What was the rumour?"

Alex scoffs unconvincingly, "Some dumb rumour one of the women had been beaten and ended up in solitary. I guess I let my imagination run wild."

Piper didn't push harder, completely able to read in between the lines there. Piper couldn't even come close to imagining how she would react if there was an indication something bad had happened to Alex, so she doesn't tell her about the real encounter she had with Yolanda.

"Thanks." Alex says some half hour later when they've already sorted at least three boxes full of books.

It was a contextless statement and without prelude, yet Piper emphatically answers, "It's fine."

Piper lets Alex push her back against the shelves, feeling her hands roam all over her before escaping under her top. Piper follows Alex's hands with her own, placing them on top of hers and tried to swallow past the immovable lump of growing anxiety lodged in her throat.

She closed her eyes, thinking this couldn't have come at a worse time. Piper tells herself that this was only going to be as hard as she made it.

They'll be fine. Alex would be fine - she'd be out in a year - that's not long. Only twelve menial months - just three hundred and sixty five days. But a lot could happen in that time. Piper should know; she was not the same person she was she first entered the world of prison. She would never recognise that naive and gullible blonde forced to navigate the alien world of incarceration.

But there was still that nagging loose end of Kubra and Aydin that worried Piper the most.

Eyes clenched shut she opens them all of a sudden and rests them on Alex. Alex - all flushed cheeks and genuine happiness, radiating an energy too uncomfortably out of synch for Piper. It was in her eyes and and mouth and the way she absent-mindedly touches Piper. Alex's fingers warm and wanting, generously smearing Piper with all the affection and love a person could give.

Piper was too glacially removed from it all - her mind falling to future scenarios - Alex alone in her bunk while she, Piper was Out enjoying whatever frivolities a free life offered. Then the visitation days would come, where she'd have to hide the smiles of freedom from Alex all the while holding her hand and whispering bullshit reassurances of time will fly and keep your head down. Fuck. Fuck.

Hands slide down her pants, fingers burrowing themselves deep in her centre sending shockwaves of pleasure through her body. But the surge of gratification compete with the images of Alex and Piscatella and broken arms and extended sentences and above all - the overarching menace that was Kubra.

Piper sees it all and it's suddenly too much to compute. She pulls back, back digging into the hard edges of the shelves behind her. She forces herself to take deep breaths trying to ward off the feeling akin to a panic attack. Something collapses inside her, this horrible folding in of her stomach, it was as much the what-ifs as well as the glaring omission of truth that were trying to dig themselves out of her.

'Alex…" But she's already faltering. It's like she's deliberately nicked an artery but now cannot figure out how to stop the bleeding.

Alex mistakes her reluctance, "Hey relax…if you're worried a CO is going to catch us, don't worry." She worries a strand of hair around her finger, "It's Higgins on duty and you know the guy would be registered blind from all the shit that happens right under his nose and never sees anything." Alex casually brushes her lips against Piper's, "Also I'm already bummed work duty is coming to an end. I was beginning to-"

"Alex! Stop, just stop." Piper jerks back, surprised at the power in her voice. Alex's stops, her face a picture of bewilderment, "What?" She pushes her glasses into her hair, all startled, "What's wrong?"

There's a prolonged silence that lasts too long. Alex holds Piper's jaw, her confusion making way for worry, "Hey, what's going on? Piper, did something happen with your bunkies?"

Piper feels herself recoil from Alex's searching gaze. She was silhouetted against the setting sun behind her, green eyes darkened, mouth turned into an uncertain grimace. It's only when she's certain the hammering of her heart slowed down that she eventually speaks, "I wanted to tell you…but the time was never right and now it's too late and I-" She stops when Alex's hand reaches up and gently cups her face, soft fingers tracing her skin. Piper cannot understand why she was finding this so fucking difficult.

Alex's eyes are brimming with such quiet regard, Piper has to physically wince. She cannot help but imagine them holding a different glint: one of loneliness and desolation.

That's when she understands; Piper didn't want to be the one to ruin things.

"Hey, hey, take your time."

Piper finally finds a lull in the waves of anxiety and decides this was the only chance she was going to get, "I'm getting out."

"Okay." Alex heaves a sigh of relief, "We knew that-"

Piper's voice was steady even though every syllable felt as dangerous as a surgical knife pressed to her throat "I'm getting out tomorrow."

'I don't understand?" It's asked as a question but Piper could already feel her heart sinking when sh watches Alex's hand slowly fall back down and dropping to her side. Her face was inscrutable. There was some faraway primal inhibition of acknowledging it when she sees Alex pointlessly rearrange a stack of books. There's too much precision in her actions, too much deliberateness to it.

"I've been granted early release but the paperwork isn't through yet and…and I still have another meeting to attend to finalise things with the deputy warden and-"

"You're getting out tomorrow." Alex suddenly interrupts. Piper wasn't sure whether she'd been listening at all. Her face was void of any expression, there's nothing for Piper to go off on, no cue that would help her figure out what to say next.

"That's great, Piper." Alex's voice was perceptibly flat, "We both knew it was coming and I'm super pleased for you, really I am."

Piper could read Alex like a book, the teeming effort to maintain a happy facade, the flashes of weakness in the shield when she saw those split seconds of apprehension. It was heartbreaking.

It was worse than Piper could ever have envisaged.

"Alex, you okay?"

"Sure, absolutely." Alex took a step forwards, doing away with the distance between them She brought a hand up and kissed Piper, gently and forcefully all at once. When she pulled back, she smiled with everything apart from her eyes.

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"Hey, Alex!"

Alex barely hears her name being called. Her mind was still firmly rooted to the conversation back in the library. She was still trying to process what Piper had told her, and what that meant for them.

Alex should be happy, more than just happy.

And yet, all she can register was this growing sense of unease, like watching the first sways of the imminently collapsing house of cards and not being able to do anything about it. But it wasn't so much that other feeling she really didn't want to acknowledge. No it wasn't jealousy but something resembling alarm.

Alex scarcely notices Dana falling into step beside her, "Hey, you okay. I called you."

"Yeah, sorry. Must have not heard you." Alex murmurs, feeling a daze coming over her.

"I just wanted to tell you Dr Lebowski wanted to see you." Dana shrugs, "I just came from medical and he told me to pass on the message."

Alex barely looks up, her hands shoved inside her pockets, "Did he say what about?"

"No idea."

"Thanks."

Alex thinks it may actually be worthwhile asking the doctor to see whether he could up her pain meds or better still, maybe finally take him up on that offer of anxiety meds. Now was as good a time as any.

.

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Alex walked straight up to Dr Lebowski's clinical room after getting clearance from the head CO of her block.

Alex opens the door, surprised the usual two guards manning the door outside the room were absent. Maybe, they were on breaks, but that would be ridiculously stupid timing for both to go off simultaneously considering this was a maxim security jail with supposedly harsh rules.

Alex thinks nothing of it, when she opens the door and steps in.

There's a moment of confusion when she spots two different guards hovering just immediately to her right, two she didn't recognise...but what was even more surprising was Dana sat casually on the examining bed with a coy smirk plastered across her face.

Alex frowns her brows, trying to figure out the situation and noticing the hairs on the back of her neck were stood upright. There was a niggling discomfort slowly creeping up on her, something was off but Alex couldn't quite figure out why.

"What is going on?" Alex scans the room, "Where is the doctor?"

Dana jovially jumps off the bed and walks up to Alex, the two guards seemingly unbothered, "You really don't recognise me, huh?"

There was an air of confidence radiating off the woman that Alex had never seen until now, "What?"

Dana does a dramatic twirl, "How about now?" She looks disappointed when Alex draws a blank face, "Not even from this angle?" She juts her butt out, "You always told me that was my good angle, Jesus."

Alex backed away towards the door, hit by a sudden adrenaline rush of _survival_. But the quick flash of the darkly dressed guards easily blocked her exit.

Alex swivelled around, "What the fuck is going on here?"

Dana swaggers forwards and pops a phone out, an item strictly forbidden. She gets way too close to Alex but almost lazily starts, "There was a very interesting video that has been circulating the World Wide Web for some time now...and you know what they say about the Internet; nothing remains hidden, absolutely nothing."

She presses a few buttons and plays the video. Alex soon realises it's the video Gina had recorded from when Piscatella had held them all captive. Alex's face was clearly visible in several frames, easily identifiable to people who knew her.

Dana's face hardens all of a sudden, "Kubra doesn't like people running with their mouths and he _especially_ doesn't like when he's being lied to."

It's the first time Alex can feel a heavy weight of fear hit her hard, her insides recoil in a tight bundle of pure shock.

"Did you really think you were gonna do your time and live a happy free life." Dana laughs, almost maniacally, "People don't leave Kubras organisation." She laughs again, "Except of course in a body bag."

Alex felt the blood drain from her face, the reality of the situation quickly catching up with her.

"You think it's just a coincidence that I happened to talk to you that morning in the canteen? What did you think of my innocent girl lost in the prairie face? It's good wasn't it?"

Alex glanced up at the guards stationed at the door, emphatically blocking the exit.

Dana follows Alex's line of vision, "Oh these?" She clarifies cheerily, "People will do anything for the right price. Even our boys in blue aren't immune."

"You see, money is power." Dana smiles, "You told me that once, remember?"

And it finally hits Alex like a bad nightmare she had all but forgotten. One of those bad but easily forgettable nightmares in the pleasant day of light that occurred once in awhile but remained forgotten until something so irrelevant reminds you of every single minute detail, where you can play it out frame by frame. And relive it as if it was happening all over again.

"Yeah!" Dana cheers, clapping her hands, "I was your drug mule! We met in Madrid, in that cute little dive bar in the middle of town, remember. God, you are such a fucking charmer, no wonder you were Kubra's best gal."

Alex didn't say anything. Anger at herself intensifying over how stupid she could be trusting people, letting her guard down so easily.

"But look," Dana declared, all traces of incongruent humour gone, "I'm the new you, but better. And unfortunately for you, Alex. You decided to fuck with a man who does business with the Mexicans and Colombian cartels. And I think it's time you got what's been a long time coming."

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AN/ Catch me on tumblr (girlfromthevillage) for any updates etc !


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